Gravity
by zerowolfmaster
Summary: 5 years after the war's end and not all is peaceful. With new leaders in charge of most of the nations, war is just upon the horizon. My take on Destiny, which I thought needed a little revamping. KL, AC, MM, Mwu isn't dead here.
1. You're WHO?

C.E. 76

The night was a calm one, with a gentle breeze and a full moon. All was silent and still, no disturbance whatsoever. That is until the Archangel Class ship appeared out of seemingly no where. The ship was all navy blue with the underside being red. A single figure stood out on the deck of the ship. The figure seemed both calm and ill at ease at the same time. The figure sighed heavily.

_Why now? I was doing so well, _he thought sullenly to himself. The door behind him opened with a slight hiss, but the man did not turn. Only one person knew where he was anyway.

The second figure leaned up against the railing with her back to the awesome view of ocean. The man glanced at her and leaned on the railing as well.

"Well?" he asked, looking the girl in the eye. Her hair was short and burgundy, held out of her face with a rubber band that formed a slight nub at the back of her head. Her haunting aquamarine eyes stared back at his purple ones. She wore a traditional blue jumpsuit of a mechanic. Despite her 15 years, she was unmistakably the Chief mechanic of the vessel, which was named the _Endyminon. _

"The Liberty project is going smoothly, all we need is the proper pilot, the men are getting restless and want another fight soon and," she checked a PDA she held in her hand. "The kidnapping is scheduled to happen in two days." The man nodded, absorbing all the information like a sponge. Until the last part hit him.

"What! Two days!" he shouted. "Are you sure Art?" The girl, Art, nodded seriously.

"Positive. Our mole inside the organization is one of the squad leaders and he's been briefed."

"Any idea why the moved the kidnapping up?"

"Sure, the Peace Ball. Think about it. All of the heads and most famous figures in all of ZAFT, Earth Alliance, and ORB will be there. If anyone wanted to strike, then would be the perfect time." The man looked over the ocean again, possibly searching for an answer.

"We'll need to plan." Art grinned.

"Already done." She handed him the PDA. He looked over it; there were maps for the building where the ball was being held along with quite a few POEs. His eyes grew wide.

"Why in the hell are there so many POEs?" POEs, or Points of Entry or Exit, were places where anyone could get in or out undetected.

"There are so many just in case of a fire so there are enough exits." He nodded and kept looking. "According to the mole, he has to lead his team to the roof and enter from there right into the middle of the party. The power is going to go out, perfect cover for us. There are three other teams, all of which will be entering through the windows using repelling gear." Art grabbed her PDA back and began pressing buttons. "My plan is for us to get the prime targets out of there and fast. Mole also says that there will be a decent sized battalion of special forces coming to back up the would be kidnappers." The man sighed loudly.

"And let me guess the targets. Cagalli Athha, Athrun Zala, Murrue Ramius, Yzak Joule, Dearka Elsman, and of course, Lacus Clyne," the sarcasm and bitterness was clear as day in his voice. Art could only nod.

"Bingo. I was thinking we could use the Blitz squadron for a recon mission with the Strikes and the Astrays on standby." The man nodded his consent and turned back to the sea, his face even more troubled than before. Art looked ready to say something but didn't and walked away. As soon as she was gone, the door opened again, this time a boy of about eleven or twelve.

"Dad?"

* * *

Art walked back into the ship, ordering the Mirage system to be activated as she did. The soldiers that she passed moved out of her way as she countenance reeked of danger. She walked to the nearest intercom and turned it on.

"Would the Blitz squadron and the Strike squadron report to the hanger? And I mean now damn it!" Art slammed the phone back on the hook. "I swear if even one hair is missing from her head, someone is going to die…"

* * *

Meanwhile, oblivious to the plans being made, Murrue Ramius sat with Cagalli and Lacus in her back yard having an early lunch.

"So what are you wearing to the ball Lacus?" asked Murrue politely. Her brown hair and orange eyes had changed very little over the years and for that she was grateful. Lacus smiled at the former Captain.

"I was thinking purple," she replied her light pink hair flowing lightly in the breeze.

"You would," commented Cagalli, her yellow/orange eyes showing annoyance and her blond hair glistening slightly. Murrue giggled slightly.

"Oh come now Cagalli, I happen to know for a fact that you're going to be wearing a dress, a _green _one," replied Lacus in retaliation. Murrue laughed at loud at the antics of the two young women. She herself was still young, in her very early thirties, but sometimes she felt older than that. Especially when a certain male made an appearance.

"Mommy! Mommy!" came a loud cry and all three women turned in that direction. A small boy of about five or six was running up to them, his brown hair trailing behind him and his blue eyes twinkling with the innocence of such a young age. His shorts were brown and his shirt red. Murrue smiled at the little boy as he ran up to her and hugged her.

"Why hello to you too Mu. What do we say?" she asked patiently. The boy looked at her then at the two other women who were smiling at him.

"Oh sorry mommy." Mu walked up to Lacus and bowed. "Sorry for being so…so…"

"Rude?" supplied Lacus happily. Children always made her this happy. The little boy nodded.

"Yes! That's it! I'm sorry for being so rude. My name is Mu." Lacus laughed.

"And I'm Lacus." Mu grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles.

"It's my pleasure to make you're a…aq…"

"Acquaintance?" said Cagalli.

"Yeah! Pleasure to make your acquaintance!" He ran up to Cagalli this time and repeated his actions to her. Murrue smiled at her son.

"Very good Mu. That was very nice," she said as she pulled him into her lap. Seconds later a young man of about 35 or 36 ran up to them. His hair was brown and his eyes gray. He wore plainclothes, namely all white shorts and a long white shirt.

"I am so sorry ladies if he troubled you in any way. We were playing tag," he said as he stopped by Murrue.

"Murrue, who is this? I've never seen him around before," said Cagalli tilting her head slightly to the side. Something about him just seemed so familiar…

"Oh this is Johan Copper. He is part of the security detail for little Mu here. Johan, this is Cagalli Athha and Lacus Clyne, two of my very dear friends." Johan bowed to them, smiling widely.

"It is a pleasure ladies." Without further ado, Johan tapped Mu on the head and said, "You're it!" And ran off. The three women stared after the man and soon Mu took off after him shouting, "No fair! I wasn't ready!" Lacus lost the battle first and burst into laughter, followed by Cagalli and Murrue.

* * *

The man turned to the boy, smiling slightly. The boy was wearing a baggy blue jumpsuit.

"There you are Akira. I was wondering where you went." Akira ran up to his father and hugged him tightly. The man patted Akira's raven black hair lightly and the boy's red eyes turned up to his father.

"Really? What for?" he asked. The man kneeled next to his son.

"How would you like to be the pilot of the Liberty?" Akira's red eyes widened.

"Really? I could?" The man smiled.

"I don't see why not. Plus, it would keep you out of Zeke's hair for a while." Akira grinned evilly.

"When can I start training?" The man looked at his watch.

"Right about…now."

* * *

Two days later…

"And here we are at the 2nd annual Peace Ball! Introduced a year ago, this ball has become THE event of the year! Dignitaries and ambassadors of all different nations, countries and the like are going to be here and they are dressed to impress!" shouted an announcer on ground zero of the ball. She was absolutely right though. Security was tight as each person had his or her own entourage added on to the already overwhelming number that was already there.

Athrun arrived with Cagalli on his arm, both of them wearing green for obvious reasons. Lacus and Murrue arrived together, as both of their loves were either dead or just missing. They all entered the party laughing and giggling; totally unaware of the shock they were about to be handed.

* * *

Meanwhile, the _Endyminon _was docking silently half a mile away from the ball. The man, codenamed Hawk, was putting a tux under an all black jumpsuit. Akira was right next to him, handing his father his equipment as he asked for it.Hawk patted Akira on the head once before walking out and into the large hangar of his _Endyminon. _Gundams lined the walls in groups of five. On the left side there were five Strikes, in five different modes, five Blitzs, five Busters, five Duels, all assault shroud mode, five Calamitys, five Forbidden and five Raiders. On the right were the originals, including the Freedom and the Justice as well as three units of five Strike Astrays. Hawk's team was standing in the center of the hangar and he walked over to them.

"Are we all ready?" he asked. Art looked to him like he was crazy.

"Are you kidding me? You wound me. The Strikes are all ready and awaiting your command, as are the Blitzs. Your suit as well as the others are all ready when you get back. Any other rhetorical questions?" Hawk grinned.

"I knew I could count on you Art. Where's Falcon?"

"In position and ready to move when the power goes."

"The lockdown team?"

"In position."

"Right. Now then. Does everyone know their targets?" The five men around him nodded, all of them itching to get moving. "Best not keep you all waiting then. We'll be back Art. Mount up!" he called and each of the men mounted black street bikes that were waiting. Hawk did so as well. "And keep Akira out of the Liberty!" As he mounted, five Gundams came to life. "Well then. What are we waiting for! MOVE OUT!" And he led the way as six bikes roared to life and out of the hangar followed by five shadows.

* * *

Lacus stood by the punch bowl, drinking a little at a time. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was sure that something was going to happen. She looked over to Athrun and Cagalli, who currently owned the floor with their dance moves. Murrue and the new representative of ORB, Donsem Nosid, were dancing as well. Donsem was young, no more than forty, and very full of life. The two did make a good pair, but it was Lacus's opinion that no one would replace Mu La Flaga, save maybe Mu's son.

Lacus sighed deeply. She too had someone special but he was gone. Gone like a whisper along with a ship, the Gundams and her adopted sister Artemis. It had torn a large whole in her heart when he left but she didn't fret over it for too long. She was sure they'd be back, sooner or later.

* * *

Hawk crouched down on the roof of a building a block away from the ball, a pair of binoculars on his eyes.

"Good, they're all there. Let's move." The six figures leaped over the roof and landed on their bikes. They rolled them silently behind the building that held the ball and each took off their jumpsuits, revealing black tuxes, identical to those being worn by security. Their jumpsuits in bags and the group entered the building silently. After sneaking past the existing guards, which one of the guys called an amateur, they came into the main ball floor. Security was everywhere, but they were better.

"Find your marks, take your positions and wait for the power to go off. Give it a few seconds and when it doesn't come back on grab your mark and get them the hell out of here. Don't wait for anyone. Remember, the marks take priority and they must get back to the ship. Wait for me there in the hangar. Got it? Good. Move out," said Hawk silently as they slipped on shades and blended in naturally with the room. He took a deep breath and moved easily over to the punch bowl, hiding in the shadows like the rest of the guards. Here was his target and his eyes never left her for more than a split-second. Not that it was hard to move, her dress had him mesmerized. It was a rich purple dress that was mostly backless and sheer sleeves that were connected to her wrists by a small band. Her hair was done up with a tight bun and the rest cascading down her back. All in all, she was stunning. Hawk lost track of time staring at his mark and was slightly stunned when the power failed. He gave it five seconds and then came out of hiding.

As he did, the glass ceiling broke in the center, five or six cords coming down as well. The side windows broke in as well with Hawk's forces. Hawk grabbed his mark, placed a black mask over her face and took off through the kitchen and out the back. When he arrived, his men were just getting there with their own marks, each of their faces covered with black masks. The guys were struggling quite a bit though.

"Hey!" he barked. "Do you want to die! Those are terrorists and they're here to kidnap you. We are the countermeasures. Stop fighting long enough for us to get you to safety!"

"Everyone, we should listen to him," said the woman in his arms.

"But Lacus!" cried Cagalli.

"Just do it Cagalli." The other five stopped fighting their escorts and Hawk muttered thanks in her ear.

"Remove their masks," said Hawk. His men looked at him confused. "If they're going to believe us, we have to give them a reason to. Remove their masks." The masks off and five pairs of eyes turned to him. "We're going to be moving very face so hold onto your escort until we return to the _Endyminon._ After that we'll-"

"Captain!" cried another voice. Hawk pressed a finger to his ear, turning on his comm. device.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Sir! Blitz Unit 1! The Special Forces are converging on your position! Should I-"

"Yes! Launch the Strikes and Blitz unit? Get back to the ship! Tell Art to have the Gundams all ready with flight suits!"

"Sir!" and the message ended. He turned to look at the others, although they couldn't tell through his tinted glasses.

"Let's move." He handed Lacus his helmet, as did the others. Their bikes roared to life once more and took off down the street.

Overhead, one could see the Strikes providing cover. The bikes screeched to a halt inside the hangar bay five minutes later. Hawk leaped off his bike. Their captives took off their helmets and took a good look around.

"My god! Is that?" asked Athrun.

"Dad here!" Akira handed his father a flight suit and Hawk looked at what Athrun was.

"Yes, that is the Justice, bigger, badder, and better than before, compliments of my chief mechanic. Where is she anyway Akira?"

"She's tinkering with the Liberty as usual dad." Hawk zipped up the suit and turned to the men and women in front of him.

"I thought as much. Well, now you all have a choice. Either you can stay here or you can take your Gundam and give me a hand out there."

"Sir! Enemy forces numbering 200! The Strikes can't handle them all!" shouted a man.

"There you have it. Launch the Astrays!"

"Very good sir!"

"But what is our guarantee that you aren't the bad guy and we are just going out there to destroy people who have come to rescue us?" asked Yzak. Hawk sighed and finally pulled of his shades. There was a collective gasp, but none were bigger than Lacus'. Hawk, as it turns out, is really no one other than Kira Yamato.


	2. Answers and More Questions

Everyone looked at him in shock.

"K-Kira?" asked Athrun, disbelief clear in his voice.

"Yes, it is me. But look, intros can be done later. I have to be somewhere. Art! Get Orga, Shani, and Clotho out here now!"

"Roger that!" came the answering cry. Kira turned back to them.

"If you'll all excuse me." With that, Kira turned his back and trotted over to a Strike, shouting out orders as he went.

"Where's his Freedom?" asked Athrun.

"He never uses it, it's too noticeable. But you know, dad is right. I would love to see if the stories he told me about all of you are true," said Akira calling their attention to himself. It took a second for the full implications of his words to sink in.

"You-your father! **_Kira_** is your **FATHER**!" shouted Cagalli. Akira was distracted from answering because the Strike was beginning to launch.

"Strike moving into position. Prepare for Aile Armor," came the call over the intercom as the machine moved into the passage that had appeared above its head.

"Kinda sorta but not really. You see, he found me a few years ago cause I had been abandoned by my real parents. He took me in and has been a better role model and a father to me ever since." While Cagalli showed her relief visibly, Lacus didn't. Before any more could be said, the hangar door opened up once more, revealing people that a few of the former Gundam pilots did not want to see.

"You two!" shouted Yzak as he saw Clotho Buer and Shani Andras, the two pilots he thought that he had killed. The two men grinned.

"Yeah, we're back!" said Shani, his dirty yellow hair still covered one of his light purple eyes.

"You can't kill us that easily," said Clotho. His bright orange hair attracted people away from his eyes. Orga Sabnak, the yellow green haired blue-gray one, was behind them, silent.

"Anyway, we have our orders from Commander Yamato. I suggest we obey them," said Orga. He turned to Akira. "Are we taking the battalions with us?" Akira shrugged.

"Dad didn't say. He just said get the three of you out there now." Orga nodded and was about to pull his comrades along with him when a comment of Akira's reached his ears. "And he said for this time only, melee tactics are accepted. Blow the suits up, if you can." Orga turned back at the boy.

"Are you sure?" Akira nodded seriously.

"I would not joke about such an order." Orga nodded again and ran over to his Gundam.

"What do you mean 'melee tactics?'" asked Cagalli. Akira swallowed nervously, a trait, they saw, he had adopted from Kira.

"Well, ordinarily, we aren't allowed to kill anyone, unless it is specifically specified by my dad himself. Usually, the targets are the arms, legs, head, anything but the main torso basically." Athrun whistled.

"Wow, it's a small world."

"And getting smaller," said Akira.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Dearka. Akira merely grinned up at him before turning his attention to the headset around his head.

"Got it. Dad says that if you're not going to fly, you need to go to a conference room and stay out of the way. I'm to escort you." Athrun looked at Yzak, then Dearka, and finally at his Justice.

"Tell Kira to save some for me," said Athrun as he ran over to his Gundam. Dearka and Yzak shared a look, shrugged and followed Athrun. Cagalli was looking around anxiously.

"Your suit is still getting fixed. Art has been so preoccupied on getting the Liberty fixed up that she hasn't had any time to get your Rouge up and running," said Akira. Cagalli huffed.

"I'll bet. Kira just doesn't want me to fight." Akira chose wisely not to say anything.

"Now if the three of you will follow me." Akira started walking away, Murrue, Lacus, and Cagalli falling into step with him. He led them to a door and down a hallway to an elevator. Cagalli was getting uncomfortable with the silence so she asked, "Well, what has my baby brother been getting himself into these past few years?"

"For starters, he proved that he was older than you by about 10 seconds. He built up his resistance fighters, been protecting you, all of you, and raising me."

"Wow, busy boy," commented Murrue.

"Yeah, here we are." The elevator stopped and they walked out, turning a left, walking down another hallway before stopping in front of a large door. It opened with a hiss and Akira calmly walked inside, the women not far behind them.

It was a fairly simple room, one long solid oak table with comfortable looking chairs going all the way around. There was a screen opposite them and a window. Lacus and Cagalli took seats near the head of the table while Murrue went over to the window. Everyone was silent for a moment until the door burst open and Art walked through. Lacus gasped but she ignored her, rounding on Akira.

"Did they already launch!" she shouted. He gave her an odd look.

"Yeah, just a few moments ago."

"Shit! Give me that damn headset!" Akira did as he was told and handed the headset over. Art put it on. "Hey! Justice, Buster, and Duel! Can you guys hear me?"

"Reading you loud and clear!" came the three simultaneous replies.

"Alright! Listen up and listen good! On the left side of the main computer console, there is a big ass shiny red button. Can you all see that button?"

"Roger. Are we supposed to press it or something?" asked Dearka.

"HELL **_NO_**! That button is for the Armor Burst! DO NOT PRESS THAT BUTTON **UNTIL** IT GLOWS GREEN! PRESS IT BEFORE THEN AND YOU WILL ENGAGE THE MOBILE ARMOR'S AUTOMATIC SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE! I REPEAT! DO **_NOT_** PRESS THE SHINY RED BUTTON! YOU GOT THAT!"

"Yes ma'am!" Art sighed and handed the headset back to Akira.

"I'm gonna kill him! Slowly but surely I'm going to kill him! I TOLD him they would need to know that but NOOOO. They just had to go out NOOOWWW. Boy I tell ya, just because he saved the world he thinks himself god!" Art was mumbling to herself, cursing every now and then.

"Uh, excuse me?" Art's head snapped up.

"What!" But as her eyes rested on Lacus, she paled. _Oh shit…_

Not another word was spoken before Art disappeared from the room.

* * *

Kira flew around in his Strike, using his gatling guns to pour his enemy into the ground. He whirled around and after drawing one of his beam sabers, sliced another suit in half. He sensed another suit coming from above him and was about to blow that one up too when the suit exploded. Kira looked around and was pleased to see the Justice with its beam cannon in hand. Kira grinned.

"Leave some for the rest of us will ya Kira?" came Athrun's voice.

"No problem. But give me a hand." Kira blasted ten more suits away with his handheld beam cannon.

"With what?" asked Athrun, blowing up eight with hisbeam boomerangs.

"I was thinking of getting rid of the rest of these clowns." Athrun grinned in his cockpit.

"Why not?" The Justice flew close to the Strike and both of them out their plasma cannons, firing them at the same time. Different beams of light tore across the landscape, blowing up a large number of suits. But their victory was short lived since a few hundred more took their place. Kira and Athrun shared a groan.

"This is going to take forever. Hey Sai? Is the ball secured yet?"

"Yes, it's been finalized."

"Good. Since I heard all that damn mumbling, I can assume that Art is there too. Art? Initiate the Armor Burst."

"What the-! Are you crazy!" There was a pause. "Wait, don't answer that. Alright whatever you say Commander. All armors in battle listen up! Prepare to go into Armor Burst mode!" Kira could see the confused faces of Athrun, Dearka, and Yzak.

"Uh…just what is the 'Armor Burst mode'?" asked Yzak. Kira grinned.

"You'll see." After a moment Kira felt his more powerful plasma cannon powering up and sliding into position. A remote guided his suit next to the others, whom he could see powering up as well.

"What the hell?" came from Dearka.

"Hey! I can't control my suit anymore!" shouted Athrun.

"Don't worry about it, just let the suit do the work. Art are we ready to roll?" asked Kira.

"Almost…there! All weapons charged and ready to fire! You're good to go, you insane little man!" Kira rolled his eyes and watched the red button go green.

"All forces! Armor Burst!" Kira pressed his button simultaneously with the others, with in turn fired off all the weapons they had. There was a bright flash of white light followed by a series of explosions similar to falling dominoes. After the light died down, all the pilots gazed over the landscape. The city was actually quite untouched although now littered with parts of the now decimated mobile suit forces.

"All forces return to base," said Kira. The Strike wheeled around and flew back to the _Endyminon_, followed by the others.

The pilots that had been left behind were cheering as the armors docked once more in the hangar. Art was one of the ones in front with Akira. Kira cringed.

"What the hell did you do!" shouted Art, running forward to look at each of the mobile armors, starting with the Raider. Kira, Orga, Shani, and Clotho sweat-dropped while Athrun, Dearka and Yzak just looked confused.

"It's only a few scratches," mumbled Clotho, something that turned out to be a mistake. A wrench came flying at him and hit him right in his arm. "OW!"

"That's what you get! Especially with what you idiots did to my babies!" She moved on to the Strike now and yelled, "KIRA YAMATO!" Kira turned to look at her.

"I didn't do anything!" he shouted, backing up. Art stomped in his direction.

"You got hit! There's a burn mark all up and down the right leg! How could you do that to _this_ unit! It's one of my more finer pieces of work!" Kira looked confused before remembering.

"Oh yeah. Huh. I didn't even notice."

"Didn't notice! DIDN'T NOTICE! WHY I OUGHTA-!" But no one ever found out what she was going to do because at that moment, Akira had stepped forward, gagged her and tied up her hands and legs. Kira smiled at his son gratefully.

"Thank you Akira! Now do me a favor and handle everything else here with Art, okay?" The boy nodded.

"Alright, they're waiting in conference room seven. Should I give the order to launch?"

"Is everyone back on board?" Akira turned to the clipboard in his hand.

"Yes, we finished redocking a few moments ago."

"Alright, go ahead. Send Falcon with the package to the conference room at his earliest."

"Yes sir." Akira turned away and began organizing everyone, after freeing Art. Kira turned to the others.

"If you'll follow me." He led the way to the elevator, his back to the others. Athrun opened his mouth to say something but Kira cut him off.

"Kira-"

"Please wait until we are in the conference room. I do not like to repeat myself if I can." The door opened and Kira strode out, opening the door to the room. The three females already in there turned to the door.

"Kira!" shouted Cagalli. He stood to the side to let the others in.

"If you'll all please have a seat." He motioned to the chairs before he sat down in the one at the head, unzipping his flight suit with a sigh. After everyone was seated, he spoke. "Well, you can begin asking me questions now. Just one at a time."

"Where the hell were you all these years!" shouted Cagalli. Kira smiled slightly.

"Here, there, everywhere." It was a vague answer and all of them knew it.

"Okay then. Why did you leave?"

"Because it's easier to protect all of you if you can't see me. After recuperating, I stole this ship and the suits."

"But I thought that they were…" Athrun let his sentence hang.

"No, those are merely regular suits is special armor outside of your capitals. Just in case. Next?"

"How did you get all…this?" asked Yzak, motioning to the ship.

"We are mercenaries. Besides, most of the men and women here are just happy to fight. It gives them purpose. I frequently sell my services to whomsoever can pay."

"How did you know what was going to happen at the ball?" asked Murrue.

"I have a mole in the enemy ranks. Art drew up the plans."

"How is Akira your son?" asked Lacus. Kira smiled slightly in memory.

"He's not my biological son, of course. He's too old for one thing. No, I found him on one of the missions and decided to adopt him. Next to Art, he's my second in command." The door opened at this point, with Art and Akira entering.

"Yes, I must thank you for taking care of my sister so well Kira." Lacus stood up and walked to Art while Akira took his place at his father's side. The smaller girl put her head down and looked like a child about to be scolded. Lacus smiled slightly as she stopped in front of her. Art had always been abnormally short, a very sensitive spot for her, and that fact was amplified a few times as her head barely reached Lacus' shoulders.

"Hello Lacus," said Art quietly, her eyes burning a hole in the floor.

"I'm up here Artemis." She raised her head but was unable to look her in the eye. Lacus opened her mouth to say something when she became aware of Art's violently shuddering shoulders. She shook her head slightly before she wrapped her arms around the smaller girl, who then broke down in a rush of tears, throwing her arms tightly around Lacus' waist. She placed her head on top of Art's and whispered softly and constantly to her. After the tears and shudders were gone, Lacus pulled away, looking deeply into Art's blue eyes.

"It really is good to see you Lacus. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried when I heard that they were going to try and kidnap you."

"It's okay Art. It also seems that I have you to thank for the rescue." Art blushed and looked away again, scuffing the ground with her feet.

"Speaking of which, why do they want us?" asked Dearka. All eyes snapped to him.

"Think about it. The former heads of the countries all kidnapped and held hostage. People will point fingers, place blame where it doesn't need to be. War will surely start up once more," replied Murrue.

"So what's going to happen now?" asked Athrun.

"Well, you can't stay here, for one. That would draw unnecessary attention. Plus, the man who ordered for you to be kidnapped would know that you have a powerful trump card waiting."

"Yes, who is this person who wanted us?" asked Cagalli.

"We still don't know. No one has ever seen him," said a voice from the door. Everyone turned.

"Ah, glad you could make it," said Kira. Murrue's jaw dropped gently.

"Mu! Johan! What's going on here?" she demanded. The two men shared a look and Johan placed Mu on the ground, who immediately ran to his mother. Murrue hugged him tightly.

"Mommy! Mommy! I found Daddy!" he shouted happily, tugging on her dress and pointing towards Johan. She looked up in confusion, looking from Kira, to Johan, to Mu, and back.

"What's is going on here?" she asked again.

"You haven't told them?" asked Johan. Kira shrugged.

"Didn't get that far but no."

"You would leave the harder job for me wouldn't you? Oh well."

"Wait a minute. You work for Kira Johan?" asked Cagalli.

"No, not exactly. First off my name isn't Johan." With that, he reached up under his chin and began pulling off what had to be a mask. Underneath were the same gray eyes but there was a firmer face and blond hair.

"Contacts," said Kira and 'Johan' removed them. Murrue gasped.

"Like I said, my name isn't Johan. It's Mu la Flaga."

* * *

Sorry it took so long but I REALLY got stuck. I still am but I thought I should hurry up and get this chapter out to explain a lot of things. Sorry for the cliffy but oh well. Hope I didn't scare too many people with Akira being Kira's son. I would never have him cheat on Lacus. She is the sweetest person on this damn show and I could never write something like that without feeling bad. Next chapter, we'll see why so many people are coming back from the dead and no Nicol, Fllay, and Rau Le Crueset or however you spell his name, aren't coming back. I was originally planning for Nicol to return but that would be a little to much like a gary-sue. I hate Fllay with a PASSION so she is NOT coming back. It might take me a while longer to update but it'll only be because I'm still working some kinks out like what's going to happen between everyone. Yes, Kira and Lacus are going to get together, and a nice fluffy moment will be included in the next chappie as well. Have fun! 


	3. Calm Before the Storm

Everyone just sat there in shock, besides Kira, Akira, and Artemis, having already been privy to that particular tidbit of info. The pair just stared at one another and for the longest time, no one said a word. The tension and apprehension was as tangible as the table in the middle of the room. And more annoying than a fly buzzing in your ear.

"Uh…hi Murrue," said Mu, cautiously breaking the ice. The effect was instantaneous. Cagalli and Lacus rolled their eyes while the men just shook their heads, not wanting to get in the middle of what was shaping up to be the biggest lovers quarrel they had ever seen. Akira shrugged helplessly and Artemis covered her face with a hand. Murrue's face hardened and she glared at him. Little Mu didn't understand what was going on, of course, so he simply smiled between his parents. Kira was still sitting in his chair, his head leaning against his left fist while he tapped the table impatiently with his other index finger. He suddenly slammed down his hand, causing everyone to jump and look at him.

"This is pointless. Murrue, before you start to rip into him, I would suggest that you take this conversation to the next room. The _soundproof _one. You know the way Mu. I do not like to be in the middle of a lover's quarrel, especially not between people far older and wiser than me." The older man nodded, before he opened the door and steeped aside to let Murrue, who held little Mu in her arms, out first. She glared at him some more when she passed. He followed after giving small grin to Kira. Akira sighed while Artemis let out the breath she was holding.

"That went better than I thought it would," he commented. Kira and Artemis nodded.

"Much better. But I think that was only because little Mu was here. If he wasn't, I have a good feeling that she would have kicked his ass from one end of the ship to the other. And done so happily as well! Oh! Oops. Sorry Lacus," mumbled Art, just remembering her sister was still in the room. The singer shook her head and smiled.

"Don't worry about it Artemis. I'm sure things have changed a bit for you in these years."

"And he is alive…HOW?" shouted Cagalli, staring between the three who knew what was going on. Personally, she was surprised that no one else had the sense enough to ask.

"The same way Orga, Shani, and Clotho are alive. Apparently, no one hit their cockpits when they were fighting, which inevitably saved them, just like it had with me when Athrun blew up the Strike. Space junkies picked them up after the fights, where they survived until I found them. Orga, Shani, and Clotho were relatively easy to find. I just had to trace the medicine they used to ease the pain of their medication to make them fake Coordinators."

"So that's why they were so good!" shouted Dearka. Everyone leveled their annoyed gazes at him and Yzak slapped him upside the head for his sudden epiphany.

"Sometimes, it's best if you just shut up," said the white haired man irritably, crossing his arms. Dearka opened his mouth to say something else but winced under the glares of the males and resigned himself to instead rubbing his throbbing head.

"Indeed, better to let people think you're stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," added Athrun. The silence stretched after this, shifting between uncomfortable and tolerable. Since no one was barraging him with questions, Kira decided to get back to the business of running his ship.

"So, where are we now?" he asked Artemis. She brought out her PDA from one of her many pockets, the stylus flying over the screen.

"About five to six hours away from our destination." He nodded.

"Good, tell Sai to speed it up just a notch. The reflector system is on right?"

"I don't know but I'll go check."

"Where are we going?" asked Lacus, staring at the two of them.

"You'll find out when we get there. Akira, would you mind terribly if we didn't practice today?" The boy shook his head before a smile crossed with a smirk settled on his face and a mischievous glint found his eyes.

"No, not really. It'll give me time to-"

"YOU ARE **NOT **TOUCHING THE LIBERTY! DO YOU HEAR ME! JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE THE PILOT **DOESN'T** MEAN YOU GET TO TOUCH IT!" roared Artemis, pointing her finger in his face. The scene was quite funny, since even though Art was older than him, she was barely eye level. Lacus and Kira sighed in unison. That girl just got WAY too worked up when it came to anything mechanical. Especially if she had been the one to build it.

"He's a pilot?" asked Cagalli and Kira gave a weary noise. This was definitely an argument he'd much rather avoid. With everyone.

"Yes, he's the pilot of the Liberty."

"Liberty?" repeated Athrun. Art nodded happily and opened her mouth but Cagalli kept going.

"But he's only a boy!" she interrupted. Athrun sensed his best male friends' sudden change in attitude and grabbed her gently by the arm.

"Cagalli…" he said in a hushed, warning tone. Kira stood up slowly, glaring coldly at her. She literally flinched at the diamond hardness she saw in his normally happy purple eyes while his face became firm, unmoving. He braced his hands on the edges of the table, his knuckles white. He began speaking, his voice cutting like a knife through the air.

"Akira is **my** son. If he wants to learn how to pilot a suit, fine. If he wants to bungee off the bow of the ship, fine. If he wants to streak through the hangar bay wearing nothing but a smile, that's fine too. As long as he is happy and if piloting is what makes him happy, then god damn it, I'm** not** going to stop him and **I'll **be the one to teach him. Maybe when you and Athrun have children of your own you'll understand me better. The more you try to stop children from doing things, the more they want to do them anyway and I'd rather him pilot the Liberty, by my side, knowing _what the_ **_fuck_** he's doing than having him sneak out and randomly pressing buttons like I did. Do **NOT** step to me on how I raise **my** son." The room was in silence once more as Kira bored a hole into Cagalli with his eyes, whose face was red in a mix of anger and embarrassment. The tension grew once more, twice as fast. Subconsciously, everyone took a tiny step away from him. He closed his eyes, rubbed the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. His face softened slightly. "I need to go calm down. Artemis, give them all rooms for the time being and come get me in twenty minutes; you know where I'll be." She nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Sure Commander. Bring everything?" Her tone was clip, crisp and very business-like.

"No, just plan 2-ECS. And EUW. Akira, come with me." Although Kira didn't see it, Art had rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Yes sir." Grabbing his helmet, Kira refused to meet the eyes of anyone else as he and his son left the room. He had barely been gone for two seconds when Art rounded on Cagalli.

"If it wasn't for the fact that Lacus is here, I'd beat the shit out of you," she seethed. Lacus scoffed inwardly.

_Tch. Don't hold back on my account…_ she thought. (1) When Cagalli opened her mouth to protest, Art was quick to cut her off.

"I _know _you haven't seen him in a _long_ time but really! Here is a piece of advice that will serve you well. That will serve you all well. Do **not **tell him what he should and should not do. Do you _realize_ how _long_ it's **BEEN** since he last cursed or glared at someone he knew! Or cared about! Good grief! It took me MONTHS to get him out of the state you just put him in!" She would have continued if Lacus hadn't crossed the room at that moment and wrapped her arms around her sister.

"That's enough Art. I think we all understand." She nodded, rolling her eyes.

"Fine…and what the hell is 22-EC…oh! Right. Follow me."

* * *

Akira followed his father silently as they stepped onto one of the balconies on the ship. He knew the spot well. It was the outdoor shooting range where he usually trained. Kira grabbed a pair of headphones and pulled out a gun. Akira stood next to him, doing the same. In freaky unison, they snapped their guns up to the targets that had just appeared and began firing.

_Aim, shot. Target: chest, head, head, chest. Location: center, top, bottom right, top left… _He ran a small commentary in his own head as he shot subconsciously; Kira had decided early on, after he found out that his 'son' was adequate with any weapon, to train him to be the best. At the moment, Akira was one of the best shots in the whole ship. Not counting Kira of course; he had a level all his own.

More targets soon popped up all around them and both males started swinging around, shooting targets and covering each other. Akira would shot a target that would have killed his dad, only to be saved himself. Their run ended soon. It never lasted long when both of them were together. Kira placed his hand on his son's head, fondly roughing up his black hair. Akira grinned up at him.

"You did well, better than usual even," said Kira smiling as well. The boy shrugged.

"I was taught by the best."

"Flattery will get you no where."

"Believe him that it doesn't work. I've been trying for who knows how long," said another voice. Art had arrived. Kira looked at his watch in surprise.

"It's been twenty minutes already?" The young mechanic rolled her eyes.

"Correction, it's been an _hour_ already. I kept resetting the timers on the targets." Kira growled lightly.

"Whatever, did you bring the plans?" She rolled her eyes again and handed him her PDA.

"Is the sky blue? Does the sun shine? Do you love La-" His hand had covered her mouth.

"Don't start that again." He removed his hand and began going through the files while Akira snickered at her. Art glared at the young boy. "Alright, Akira set this up for me would you?" He handed the PDA to his son.

"Sure dad." And he was off. After the door shut behind him, Art produced the other thing Kira wanted.

"I swear, you'll learn to trust me one of these days, I promise you." He merely took it from her.

"Right, thanks Art." She shrugged and left as well, already plotting in her evil little mind. Grinning, she ran off to get Lacus.

Walking over to the entertainment center that was centered in one of the walls, Art's idea, he popped the CD in. Music washed over him seconds later and he leaned on the rail, his back to the door.

His own edited lyrics flowed softly from his lips, cleansing him in a way. Of course, that might also have to do with the fact that it was one of Lacus' songs. But since the music was slightly loud, and he was singing, he didn't notice nor hear when the door opened up once more. Unknown to him, the figure smiled and waited silently as the song went into the second verse.

With a critical musical ear, the girl, for it was a she, could tell that yes, he had decent voice, but it wasn't all the great, from a critical point of view. Otherwise she could sit there and listen to him for hours. She nearly giggled as well at the choice of lyrics, more so how he remixed them to point at himself but she felt that there really was a deeper meaning to what he was saying.

The figure, who was of course Lacus, stepped up and began singing, causing Kira to nearly break his neck when he turned to face her in surprise, his face own burning red.

She finished, smiling at him.

"You're a nice singer Kira. I didn't know you could." She walked over to him, leaning on the rail next to him. He swallowed his embarrassment at being caught and looked at her.

"Yeah well…something about the song called to me…" She started nodding.

"Yes, that's what I thought when I wrote it." He smirked.

"So you mean you wrote that song for me?" Lacus turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. You _are_ my source of inspiration of course," she replied with total honesty. His smirk dropped a bit and he stared at her.

"Lacus," he said slowly and carefully, turning so he could face her properly. "Are you trying to imply…what I think you are?" She raised herself up as well so they were slightly eye-to-eye; she was still shorter than he was.

"Depends what you think I'm implying Kira," she said softly. He gazed into her blue eyes for a moment before he leaned down hesitantly and gently kissed her.

Her lips were as soft and smooth as he had imagined, although his imagination didn't really do her justice. She wrapped her arms around his neck, happily kissing him back as she pressed her body to his. Kira took that as a good sign and placed his hands on her hips, deepening the kiss. How long they kissed, they couldn't have said but they did break apart when the oh too familiar sound of a camera and a flash distracted them. They looked to the door, to see Art blocking the way with the guilty camera in her hand and a wide grin on her face.

"It is about goddamn time! Geez! I was about to think the two of you were going to die virgins!" Lacus colored slightly while Kira was redder than the Justice. He glared at her.

"Give me the camera Art." She waved it carelessly.

"Why? It's such good blackmail material!" She scampered away before Kira could come after her. He sighed, leaning once more into the rail, the sun setting behind them. Lacus just smiled and relaxed against him. He brought up a hand and wrapped it possessively around her waist, pulling her closer.

* * *

And that's that. Well, at least I got Kira and Lacus together eh? Oh and about that note, (1) with Lacus' comment? I thought that it was a bit out of character so I'm apologizing but the moment was too much to pass up! And she is right, Art should have beat the shit out of Cagalli for that comment, I would have but I'm also unnecessarily violent so…yeah. This is just a bit of a filler chapter anyway. Oh, and there used to be lyrics here but since is being all special I've finally gotten around to taking them down. The song was called Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon. It really is a good song and the way I edited it, it fitted the wholeKira/Lacus really well. Well, why are you still reading? Review already! 


	4. Let's Get Married

Thanks for all the cool response. I didn't think I'd get so much. Sorry if Kira was a bit OOC last chapter but you would be too if you had to go through what he did.

NOTE: The Liberty unit I keep talking about? Yeah, it's the Strike Freedom. I was looking at Gundam designs and I liked it a whole lot but since I'm too lazy, I won't go back and change it. And I realized that all this time, Kira and the others were still in their formal clothes/pilot suits. Just go with the assumption that all of them changed into the uniform of the _Endyminon_, which is a blue outfit like the ORB ones with purple trim.

And as of right now, I have finished watching Gundam Seed Destiny and let me tell you, I'm not impressed. So since the villain here was going to be the spawn of Raww, a.k.a. Rey, I'm just going to go ahead and merge the two. The story will follow GSD loosely but follow it nonetheless.

* * *

"So tell me Kira. Just what have you had my sister doing all this time?" asked Lacus, as she leaned against him tentatively. This was still new territory to the both of them and she didn't want to make any type of mistake that might push Kira away. He swept away her doubts however when he placed his arm around her waist, pulling her close. She sighed wistfully and leaned against him.

"You want to see or you want me to bore you with the details?" He tried to hide his smile and failed miserably. She smiled at him and nearly melted his knees away.

_I could definitely get used to seeing that more often in my direction…_he thought.

"What would you rather do?" In response, he kept his arm around her waist and tugged her towards the door.

"To tell you the truth, Art had been pretty busy. She is the person you need to see about that. And if I know her like I think I do, she's working on the Liberty." She obediently followed after him, getting lost quickly. There was no doubt that she'd never be able to find her way around this ship without someone helping her. Kira held her closely to his body, comforted by her presence.

He had been alone for the longest time, feeling their separation every time he thought of her. Now, however, that annoying pain was gone and this time, not threatening to return. The elevator touched down and they reentered the hangar bay once more. It was mostly deserted since most of the crew were in another part of the ship having a good time. There were a few pilots lounging around here and there but no one noticed them.

"Artemis?" called Lacus. Kira shook his head and walked over to the far wall. It was solid, steel, and hidden behind the Calamity units. She looked questionably up at him and he winked.

"She always did have a thing for this particular unit," he replied, touching his hand on one of the plates. After a moment, the plate changed from steel gray to green and another plate slid back to reveal a well-lit factory. Kira gently closed Lacus' open mouth and led her in; the door closed behind them.

In front of them was what could only be described as a junkyard. Random parts were everywhere and nowhere at the same time but yet still there was an order to the mess. ZAFT mobile suit parts were on one side, Earth Alliance stuff on the other, and a small pile of ORB stuff somewhere in the middle. Art was actually on the right hand side, hanging from the ceiling, working on the head of an incomplete suit. It looked roughly like the Freedom, which was in the back left corner. It looked mostly the same from the last time Lacus had seen it although it was a little shiner and the wings a little bigger. She followed him as he navigated the mess, moving to the scaffold on one side. He stepped on the platform first, turning around to give her a hand.

"Such a gentleman." He kissed her on the lips, quite literally taking her breath away.

"Only for you," he returned, pressing a button, causing the platform to rise.

As they got closer, they found out why Art couldn't hear them or notice them at all; she was blasting some music in her ears. And singing, or rather rapping, bobbing her head up and down in time with the music, dangerously shaking her body, which was only supported by repelling gear that was strapped to her legs.

Kira and Lacus shared an amused look like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Think she's trying to tell us something?" he asked. She only shrugged and giggled a bit.

"Could be but who knows for sure? Artemis is a very odd girl."

"Amen to that." Over their heads, said mentioned girl was still cranking away, blissfully unaware of what was going on underneath her. She tapped on the laptop that was strapped to her stomach before rotating a bit to the left.

"Yes, although she's right, nobody was listening," concluded Lacus. Kira pulled her closer to his body.

"But I'm glad we did, eventually." They looked up at Art. She unhooked herself from her gear, flipping backwards expertly and landing in front of the now completed face. She unhooked the laptop as well, placing it by the head, still rapping the lyrics as she peered over the edge and jumped down, crouching and moving like a cat as she jumped in the cockpit. For reasons still unknown to them, she still hadn't realized that she wasn't alone.

"She can pilot too?"

"Yes, everyone on the ship can, to a certain extent. Art, when she does fly, is usually the sub commander of the Calamity unit. I try not too send her out often though."

"Why?" The head of the Liberty moved left and right while the arms rose up, rotating the wrists and flexing the fingers. They heard a cry of triumph from inside the cockpit when the fingers operated properly.

"A) She's the head mechanic so I can't risk her anyway. B) She's your little sister and I know you'd kill me if I let her die. And C) She's a little trigger-happy. The main reason she likes the Calamity so much. You should see her special unit…" Art popped out of the cockpit and started dancing.

"I did it! I did it!" she chanted.

"Did what?" called out Lacus. The smaller girl stopped and stared at them before glaring at their amused expressions. She pulled her headphones off and paused her music.

"When did you two get in here?" she asked, grabbing a stray wire that was just hanging around and swinging herself over to them, wiping the sweat off her brow with an oily arm. She had shrugged out of her jumpsuit, the top resting upside down on her waist and her white shirt stained with black.

"When you started singing. Why that particular song?" replied Kira. She shrugged.

"I guess cause I was so happy that the two of you FINALLY listened to me! So, when's the wedding and how soon can I expect nieces and nephews?" Both adults went red on cue and she smirked.

"So what's this?" asked Lacus, skillfully dodging the question by diverting the girl's attention to her favorite subject. As predicted, Art's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"_This_," she said proudly, looking at the suit. "Is the Liberty."

"Don't tell me this is the suit you were designing after seeing the Freedom and the Providence?" Shock illuminated her face. Art had been working on the designs for MONTHS and some of the things she wanted to put in the suit were particularly abstract.

Or plain out impossible.

"The one and the same. Here. I'll show you what it's going to look like." She turned to a computer consol behind her. Seconds later, a hologram popped up. Art looked at it fondly.

"It's beautiful," said Lacus in awe. It looked remarkably like the Freedom but different as well. The angle of the torso pointed more downwards and instead of a flat part covering the cockpit, it was sunken in and reminded Lacus of the Scylla energy cannon on the Calamity. The wings were blacker than the Freedom's and twice as big with special blue parts on the inside of the wings that looked to be detachable. The rail cannons on the hips looked slimmer and all the joints were golden instead of just black. The overall body looked much smoother, more rounded, and a little darker than the Freedom as well.

"It is isn't it? Well, for beginners, it's a few meters taller than the Freedom and a bit heavier too. I've countered that with more powerful thrusters in the legs, back, rail cannons and wings. The rail cannons are more powerful as well. Took me forever to make them slimmer and more powerful though…the wings now house DRAGOONs; those are the extra blue parts in the wings. There's four per wing but the Balaenas are still in the wings, couldn't get rid of those." She gave an evil grin.

"You're just saying that cause you like blowing stuff up," snorted Kira. Art shrugged shamelessly.

"And? Moving on, that golden indent in the chest? It's a new cannon I developed from the Calamity's Scylla cannon. I call it the Callidus. There are also new hand guns as well, borrowed the idea from the Buster, so they can be combined to form a single high-energy rifle. They're stored on the back. They would have been on the hips bit that would have blocked the rail cannons. And for my crowning achievement. My beam shield generator. Automatically pops up whenever a beam comes at the Liberty or the pilot can call it on command."

"You actually got it to work? You've outdone yourself with this one sis," was all Lacus could say. Art flushed with pride.

"Well, I've got all the programming done and most of the weapons. I was fixing the sensors when you guys walked in."

"Just one question. What's powering it? All those nice beam weapons need a lot of power." Art looked away guiltily. She looked at the small repairer sternly. "Art? What's in the suit?"

"Um…a nuclear core?" Lacus just sighed as though resigned to the fact.

"I thought as much. But who's the real pilot?" When both of them just blinked, she grinned. "There's no way you're giving such a suit to Akira, no matter how good he may be. You're the pilot, aren't you Kira?"

In response, Art held out her hand and Kira irritably slapped her some money. Lacus raised an eyebrow at them.

"Oh, I bet him that you'd figure out who was the real pilot within one minute of finding out what the Liberty could really do and what was powering it," answered Art to the unasked question.

"I bet two minutes," said Kira. "But you are right, this is going to be my new suit. It's capabilities are far superior to what Akira could handle, no offense. The DRAGOONs alone would tie him up entirely."

"Not to mention the HiMAT system…that's what? Seven to fifteen beams at once?" She scoffed. "This is not a suit for beginners."

"Like you're one to talk?" asked Kira, playfully punching her shoulder. She mock-glared at him.

"Yes, at least I _can_ multitask. And if you'll remember, I _do _have a HiMAT system in my RDaC. The best one on the ship." Lacus smiled fondly at them. They were just like older brother and annoying little sister. It was a very cute moment but she'd never tell Art that; the girl hated anything involving the word cute.

"RDaC?" Kira rolled his eyes in slight exasperation and annoyance.

"Stands for 'Random Demolition, Art's Calamity'. It's that personal unit of hers that I was talking about."

"I don't even want to know." She snickered slightly, thinking about what Art would do to a suit all her own. Especially with a melee unit like the Calamity.

"Good, cause I wasn't going to tell you anyway; it'd take way too long. Hey, I have a pretty great idea. Why don't you two go wait in the balcony on the left side? I'm sure there's a nice moon out tonight." Art smiled innocently enough but neither adult was buying it. Innocent was never a word to be used in the same sentence and context as Artemis.

"I don't know…" started Kira.

"Aw come on! Humor me!" Knowing he was delaying the inevitable, he agreed and they left to wait. Art grinned devilishly and pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Plan M is a go. Round everyone up."

"Roger," came the crackled reply and Art went to go change.

* * *

Kira and Lacus walked out onto the aforementioned balcony to a beautiful full moon.

"Guess Temi wasn't lying…" stated Lacus. The moon illuminated the sky effortlessly, adding to the already brilliant background of stars. She stepped away from Kira, twirling in a circle like a little girl, giggling happily. He stood back and watched her.

_Good Lord…she looks like a goddess like that…_

With the moonlight illuminating her outline, blurring it slightly, she became seemingly one with the background. He just watched her twirl silently, a smile brightening his battle-worn face. The door opened to his left and to his surprise, Akira walked out followed by Athrun, Cagalli, Mwu and Murrue. Lacus stopped spinning to look at them.

"What are all of you doing here?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side, making her look even more adorable in Kira's biased eyes. Athrun shrugged and nodded to Akira.

"Ask him. He just rounded us up and said 'Follow me.'" The guilty boy threw his hands into the air as if to ward off any attacks.

"Don't blame me. I'm following higher orders."

"Who's?" asked Kira. As far as he knew, Akira and Art were two of his second in commands, following Mwu and Andrew.

"Mine," said Art, coming out in a full priest's outfit, decked out in all black with white outline. Everyone stared at her in surprise and Murrue was the first to speak.

"When did you become a priest?" She shrugged.

"I got bored one weekend. So I decided, 'Why not become a priest? I've got nothing better to do.'"

"But what do you need to be a priest for?" asked Cagalli. Art walked forward, stopping at the railing, her back to the ocean.

"I'm here to preside the marriages of course." Akira sneakily crept to the back by the door before everyone could explode.

"What marriages?" shouted Murrue. Art smiled and caught Akira about to leave.

"Yours of course and come here Akira!" The boy came to her side dejectedly. "Moving on, I happen to know for a fact that my sweet sister here has a very annoying suitor, a weirdo named Yuuna right?" Lacus shivered at his name involuntarily and Kira vowed to kill the man the first chance he got. Without Lacus knowing of course. He'd just get someone to do it if he couldn't anyway…

"Yes. He's been after me for quite a while now…"

"All the more reason for you to get married!"

"But none of us even have rings," commented Mwu. Artemis smirked.

"Actually, you do. I seem to remember all of you reserving rings at various places, which were picked up by me. Kira, you already have yours, as do you Cagalli." She brought out a small red velvet box and opened it up. Inside were four rings of various shapes and designs. The one on the very top was also the most individual of them all. The band itself was in varying shades of pink with a purple gem in the middle. The one below it had a platinum band with an emerald green gem, and the other two were ironically enough are exact inverses of one another, one being orange with a golden band and the other being blue with a silver. Cagalli and Kira stepped forward and added theirs to the last two spots. "I love it when I'm right. Now, who's going first?" Four of them immediately stepped back. Akira smiled.

"Dad, Lacus, you're up." Artemis shoved the case holding all the rings into his hands.

"Make yourself useful." (I'm not going to bore you with petty details since everything will be the same for each person only with different names. Just suffice to say that Kira gave Lacus the first one, Athrun got the green one, Murrue got the orange one and Mwu got the blue one.) Art was grinning ear to ear when she finished marrying Mwu and Murrue.

"I now pronounce you all husband and wife, thank goodness…you may kiss your brides gentlemen." The men were about to do just that when the door opened up once more, revealing a young man of maybe 23.

"David? What's the matter?" asked Kira, pulling away from Lacus and trying to keep the irate tone out of his voice.

"Commander! We've just received a message!" shouted David, his chest heaving slightly. It had to be important if he had to run. Or cause he couldn't find him to begin with.

"By whom?" asked Akira.

"It's the Unknown sir!" Kira stiffened slightly. The Unknown was the name he had given the group that kept stirring up trouble.

"Where's the message?" David handed him a piece of paper. His purple eyes flew across it.

"Art, I want you to trace this message. If you can find where it came from, launch Trinity." Art, Akira, and Mwu all started.

"Are you crazy!" shouted Mwu. Murrue glared at him and slapped his chest.

"The triplets dad?" asked Akira. "Are you serious?"

"They're crazier than me!" The remaining clueless people looked to each of them in turn.

"Who are the triplets?" asked Murrue. Mwu groaned, covering his forehead with his hand.

"They're former special forces from ORB. You should remember them Cagalli." She looked up, trying to remember any special forces members that had been discharged lately.

"Yeah…you don't mean those three who got dishonorably discharged for misconduct on the battlefield?" Kira nodded.

"The very same. If you can't find it, Art, don't worry. Are there any prisoners on the ground?" Akira scratched his head thoughtfully.

"I think so. Maybe two."

"Tell our ground forces to question them." David nodded and ran off, followed by Art. Cagalli turned to him.

"You do know their history…right?" Kira rolled his eyes.

"Of course I do. They have one of the biggest problems with authority I've ever seen and that's what got most of my pilots discharged in the first place."

"So they listen to you? I mean, actually listen?"

"Yeah, I just let them fight the way they want. I do keep it within reason though."

"If that was the case, why didn't you let them go at the ball?" asked Athrun.

"That's just it. I **did**. There really was a large amount of suits there. According to their count, they shot down nearly a hundred between the three of them."


	5. Beginning Again

**PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

Good lord I suck…

I am so totally sorry for taking so long.

* * *

"Aw! It's beautiful!" gushed the blond haired, purple-eyed vixen as she saw her new suit. It was mostly all black with yellow and red here and there. There were more suits behind it in the hangar with cords and wires everywhere. The boy she held on to smiled down at her. 

"Yes, I talked the vice chairman into giving it to you Stellar. It's called the Gaia and it also has a BuCUE mode as a mobile armor mode." If it was possible, Stellar's smile increased and she kissed him soundly.

"Thank you Shinn!" He continued smiling, content to let her mostly sleeveless cream skin to stay in contact with his. He had black hair and red eyes, a frightening combination he was told. There were also two boys behind them, and the taller one, the one with green hair and small black eyes, grinned in amusement while the other one, with light blue/grayish hair and dark green eyes with hints of blue, scoffed.

"Honestly Stellar, it isn't that big a deal," he stated flatly but his grin softened his words. She turned to him and pouted.

"Stop being so mean to Stellar Auel," said the boy next to him. Auel turned away. "Besides, my unit's better." Shinn laughed out loud at the expression on Auel's face as he stared dumbfounded.

"Have you lost your mind Sting? The Abyss is way better than the Chaos!" He gestured at the suit behind the Gaia, a light blue one. Sting shrugged.

"So you can go underwater, big deal. My suit was based off the Aegis, which was the best of those old suits besides the Strike."

"Which was the best period," added Shinn with a cheesy grin. "Which means that my suit, Impulse, is the best out of all these new ones." Auel glared at him, Sting shrugged nonchalantly and Stellar beamed at him with her heart in her eyes. A red haired beauty rolled her eyes.

"You're all such children! Sometimes I wonder-"

"If all of you are really nineteen," said another boy walking up to them. He had long blond hair that rested on his shoulders and lively green eyes. Shinn smiled at him. A smile that made Stellar pout a little.

"Rey!" he called in an excited voice. They had trained together in the academy and grew to be very good friends. Rey was the calmness that Shinn lacked so completely.

"Shinn, Stellar, Auel, Sting, Lunamaria. I see you're admiring our-or rather your-new toys."

"What do you pilot again? I know it's a ZAKU something," said Auel, rubbing the back of his head trying to remember. Rey smiled.

"It's the ZAKU Phantom, one of the first in production. But that's not what I'm here to talk about." Shinn immediately noticed the serious tone in his friend's voice and the slight worried look upon his face. He let go of Stellar and turned to face him fully.

"Rey? What's wrong? What happened?"

"The leaders of ORB and ZAFT have been assassinated."

* * *

"Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant," muttered Kira, drumming his fingers against the armrest. They were in his office, which was very moderately decorated. A wide window was directly opposite the door with his desk to the left and a TV on the opposite wall. The news had come just a few minutes earlier. And of course, he was not very happy. "Two leaders gone in an instant. How did this happen?" He refrained from slamming his fist. Art looked up from her position by the window. 

She knew how Kira got when he was really upset and as such kept her voice and expression carefully neutral.

"We pulled the team out remember?" Inside, she was cursing herself thoroughly. She had been the one to create the mission plan in the first place.

"So? Where the hell was security?"

"They were the ones to do the killing," replied Akira slowly from on his left side. Kira threw up his arms in frustration, just like Art thought he would. He might seem calm and composed in public but in closed quarters…

"FUCKING BRILLIANT!" he shouted. He leaped from his chair and started pacing, a sure sign of his agitation. "Who's next in line for the head chairman?"

"Some guy named Gilbert Dullindal. He's fairly young, thirty-two, but he was already vice supreme chairman by the time he was twenty-something," replied Art, watching him pace up and down. Only she and Akira were allowed to be with him at that moment. He began spinning his new wedding ring as a way to relieve the stress. Not that it was working very much but still.

"Okay, how much longer till we reach our location?"

"A few more hours." Kira was silent for a moment, obviously deliberating on something.

"Take them into SP-215. All of them."

"Even Lacus?" asked Art surprised.

"Yes, even Lacus. What about that message from the Unknown?" She shrugged.

"Dummy routed. Couldn't get a solid lock."

"And the ground prisoners?"

"Sources say they had false teeth filled with poison." Kira sighed again.

"Wonderful…"

* * *

"What's going on Art?" asked Lacus as she was lead into a room. It was only furnished with seats on both sides, two dozen approximately. 

"Don't worry about it. Kira will be here to tell you soon." And she turned and left, locking the door quietly behind her. "Forgive me Lacus," she muttered.

"Hey, where is daddy mommy?" asked little Mwu, looking around for him while holding onto his mother tightly.

"Yes, where is he?" asked Cagalli, fear starting to creep into her mind. For Athrun, Yzak, and Dearka, their soldier's sixth sense was going off, blaring into their ears. But suddenly, her eyes fell droopy and she fainted, falling backwards. She would have fallen to the floor if Athrun hadn't leaped forward and caught her at the last second.

"Cagalli! Cagalli!" he shouted, shaking her while everyone stood by waiting anxiously in a loose circle around them. But soon, their eyes too became heavy. A voice suddenly spoke over the intercom.

"I am sorry, all of you, but there has been a change of plans. Do not worry about the gas; it's only going to knock you out for the trip. When you wake up, you'll be in ORB. Sorry for leaving you all like this." It was Kira and his voice did sound mournful but before anyone could respond, the gas went into full effect.

Had any of them been awake, they would have heard the grinding of machinery or they would have felt the pod they were in start to move. But since they were asleep, they knew none of these things, except for troubled dreams.

* * *

(Sorry for it moving kinda fast but from here on, this story is going to reflect MY version of Destiny. 

**YOU ARE NOW FOREWARNED**: if you haven't seen the entire series yet and you don't want to spoil anything, I suggest you stop reading. By the way, I'm gonna skip ahead to where Lacus is being attacked.)

* * *

Kira had been napping lightly in the cockpit of his Freedom when he was abruptly awoken by the explosions. He looked overhead subconsciously before his fingers started flying over his keyboard mechanically. An image of a security camera showing six or seven mobile suits attacking the residence where Lacus currently resided erupted on his screen. Anger quickly entered his blood, making his fingers move faster than ever to get the Freedom launched. 

The system came online as the reactor warmed up. The second it was at optimum efficiency, he gunned the thrusters down. His prized Freedom rocketed out of the water, covering the near thirty meters of water in no time at all. Once airborne, he turned the Phase Shift Armor on and descended upon Lacus' attackers like a god of death. In his mind's eye, he could see his purple seed waiting to burst but with great mental will, stopped it from shattering. That would be a mercy he didn't want to give.

The first suit went down in two side slashes, keeping the cockpit intact but incapacitating it at the same time. Two others began shooting at him as he flew by. He dodged the beams of light effortlessly, somewhere in his mind thanking Art for upgrading the reaction time of the suit. Hanging upside down in the air, he quickly switched to HiMAT mode, destroying four more suits. The last remaining two fired shots at him futilely. Dodging them as well, he chopped off the arms of one and then blasted off its legs with his M100 Balaena plasma beam cannons. The last one was the leader, obviously since he dodged Kira's initial sword attack. He changed forward, one clawed arm primed to attack. With an annoyed roll of his eyes, the Freedom's shield blocked the attack and raised it, flipped the suit over. Turning simply, six shots from his MA-M20 Lupus beam rifle completely disabled it.

The whole battle was over within seconds. Although he himself was not responsible for the kills, the leader of the group activated a self-destruct sequence that destroyed them all.

_They're trained professionals then. No one else commits suicide if they lose a fight…_he thought. He could see Lacus, Murrue and Andrew all on a safe hill two hundred meters away with the children, watching him. Sighing, he opened hiscomm. frequency.

"Art," he called. The background of the image was familiar then he rolled his eyes again. She was in her hanger, fixing up the Liberty as usual. She was once again sitting in the open cockpit, her butt sticking up in the air as she worked on what he assumed to be the console.

"Damn it! Why won't it-! Oh! He he, silly me, wrong circuit." She continued humming to herself, her head bobbing up and down. Sighing again, he opened the plastic case of a bright orange button to his right and pressed it. Art yelped once and jumped in the air, firmly knocking her head on the top of the cockpit. She turned around and began rubbing the sore spot.

"ART!" he called again and this time she looked up at him. She glared.

"What is it now? Didn't you just go on watch duty?" She stood up and grabbing that one cord that was always hanging around, swung over to the main platform and the computer his face was coming from.

"Don't be mad at me for using your invention." The button he had pressed was a remote control for a small watch on Art's left arm. When he couldn't reach or contact her, he'd press the button, sending a low shockwave of electricity through her. She'd get the message and try to contact him immediately.

"Yeah yeah. So what's up?" Kira's face darkened.

"Lacus was attacked." Art stopped grumbling to herself and looked up in shock.

"WHAT!" Had it not been for the seriousness of the situation, Kira would have laughed.

"Yeah, about seven mobile suits that I don't recognize. They were coordinators."

"How do ya know?"

"Only coordinated special forces commit suicide if they think they're going to lose. That and only ZAFT has unknown looking mobile suits." She moved closer to the screen and he could tell she had started hacking on the laptop she always carried with her. He let a small grin show. That laptop was of course her own invention and was the heart and soul of every machine she touched. With that one laptop, someone could completely and entirely cripple his forces and those of many of other countries.

The Endyminon would be completely lost without her.

"Just give me a minute to hack into your camera feed…glad I installed that…now matching…got 'em! Yup, it was coordinators. And for future reference, those suits are really mobile armors called Ash." He didn't want to ask but he had to make sure.

"Their target?"

"…………Lacus…"

"Just as I thought…"

"And the news gets just a tiny bit worse." Kira laughed scornfully.

"Worse? How could the situation get worse?" Famous last words.

"Cagalli is scheduled to get married tomorrow to Yuuna." His jaw hit the floor. Of all the things he had been expecting, that definitely wasn't it!

"WHAT! Athrun would kill us! We've got to get her!"

"Cool your jets! I'll go get her." The words had their desired effect in sobering him up. His amethyst eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"In what suit?" he asked suspiciously. She laughed nervously, rubbing the back if her head.

"Not my Calamity, if that's what you were thinking." He let out a sigh he didn't realize he was holding.

"Then?"

"The PO series?" He rubbed his eyes tiredly and sat back to think for a moment.

_Art + alone + mobile suit + reason to hate Yuuna a damn good idea._ It's not his fault he was feeling more than slightly sadistic at the moment.

"Just don't kill Yuuna. We need him to watch ORB for us." Art pumped her fist into the air.

"YOSH! You got it commander!"

* * *

Art was grinning sadistically as she and her two friends observed the site of the wedding from afar. Both of them were male and as outgoing as she was. The one on her right was Lowe Guele, a former Junk Guild merchant turned merc for Kira, putting his special Gerbera Straight to other uses. He had wild brown hair and blue eyes (Don't know for sure but work with me). The other one wasAros Ric, an exceptionally skilled merc and thief extraordinaire. Ironically enough, the only reason he was with Kira was because Art was the first person ever to catch him at stealing. He had tried to take the MBF-PO3 Blue Frame, which was now his own personal unit. In his mind, he served Art as a butler would serve his master. He had a fiery temper when provoked; otherwise he was an all around good guy. 

"This is going to be fun," commented Lowe.

"Duh! Scaring the crap out of people usually is," repliedAros with an evil grin.

"Alright, I see them. They're leaving the house now," Art cut in, uncommonly serious for once. The two boys sobered up as their cameras zoomed in on the white car bearing Cagalli and Yuuna.

"How long till they arrive?" asked Aros, his hand itching to put his suit into action.

"Roughly three minutes," replied Lowe.

"Remember, Kira is counting on us not screwing up with this. No one is to be harmed at all. Disable the snort Astrays and leave Cagalli to me." She only snorted because of how lame the mass production Astrays were to her MBF-PO series.

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

"I don't think the situation is that serious," comment Murrue as she and Kira rode in an elevator down underneath ORB to a secret hanger that stored the Archangel. He had changed out of his flight suit and into a fitting black jacket and pants. Murrue was in black pants and wore a normal orange mechanic's jacket from the Archangel. 

"But I do. They used unknown Special Forces against her. For what reason? She is their Princess is she not? I'm not going to stand for that. There's something bigger going on here and I want to find out what. However, I still have a business to run. You think its cheap running your own personal mercenary force? So I'm leaving Lacus with you and Andrew for the time being. We'll rendezvous later. Probably in a few days." She nodded in a resigned way as the elevator stopped.

"Where?" She stared at him from her spot outside the elevator. He smiled in a way that told her he was planning something mischievous.

"I'll tell you later. Just stay out of sight for the time being and remain underwater. Art will tell you when she requires you to be above ground. It won't take long, knowing her. The only things she's patient with is mechanics."

* * *

Cagalli sat with her head down, screaming at herself on the inside. She did want to get married but not to Yuuna of all people. She's wasn't as naïve as they thought she was. She knew they only wanted to gain the power that her position had by marrying her into their family. 

Yuuna sat next to her, cheerfully waving at the crowd. He noticed Cagalli's inaction next to him. Frowning, he nudged her with his elbow a bit roughly.

"You need to act more happy. It is your wedding day." And he turned back to the people. She glowered at him before smirking.

_If only you knew my wedding day was more than two weeks ago…_she thought but nevertheless, began waving too, if only to stop him from bugging her anymore. He had already made inappropriate comments about her hair and her grammar in the time frame of just two minutes. Any more and she was sure she'd have no one to 'marry' because he would be in the hospital or dead. Some habits you just don't get rid of.

* * *

"There they are," growled out Art, zooming in on Cagalli's tear-streaked face as they stepped out of the car. "You two ready? We have a friend to rescue and a princess to kidnap." She received two roguish grins in return. 

"You know it," they replied in unison.

"Is it confirmed that the Archangel is on standby?"

"Yep, no more than three hundred meters off shore. Shouldn't take us more than five to ten minutes to get there," replied Lowe.

"Then let's go, we got us a wedding to interrupt!" The three started their flight units and launched into the air,Aros picking up the ORB frequency that labeled them as unknowns and therefore targets. They outran the Astrays that had been launched and closed in on the temple where the wedding was taking place. The two boys broke off from the triangle formation, off to do their jobs while Art did hers. She started laughing as she saw everyone run away in fear from her but growled irritably when Yuuna first hid behind his 'bride' and then run away like the coward he was. She landed smoothly and gently nudged Yuuna as he ran, making sure he fell. She gathered her 'aunt' in her Gold Frame's hands firmly before taking off again.

She could hear Cagalli shouting at her, demanding to know what she was doing.

No more than five seconds later, Lowe andAros rejoined her, providing escort.

"Good job boys! Mission completed!" she said to them with a smile, mostly because Cagalli was shouting at her again and with very colorful language too. "Now now Cagalli," she spoke over the loudspeaker. "Such colorful language is extremely unbecoming of a Princess." The bride growled irritably and gave her the finger.

"Hey Art, don't speak so soon. We've got three units on our tails!" shouted Lowe. Art cursed violently before raising Cagalli to the cockpit and grabbing her.

"Wow Cagalli, you look nice. Come on now, don't be that way. Just sit still and be a good girl while we take care of you pursuers okies? Lowe, Aros! Let's go!" She received two shouts of confirmation before she drew her MA-M30 Lupus beam rifle and began firing along with Aros. Lowe turned around and engaged them directly with his Gerbera Straight. Although Art was a pretty lousy shot, the Gold Frame's targeting system compensated for that and allowed her to shot the heads off of one entire unit whileAros did the same to the second. Lowe was slicing through the last one when Cagalli started shouting again.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

"Ask your brother."

Nothing more was said as Cagalli was lowered into the waiting arms of Andrew.

* * *

Meanwhile, unknown to them as they dropped her off, Athrun was calling to ORB control requesting permission to dock with the _Minerva_. He was answered with a Murasame welcoming party. 

"ORB Control! Can you hear me?" he called but frowned when the sensors in his new ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam started whining.  
_  
They've locked onto me!_ But such thoughts fled to the back of his mind as they started to fire upon him. It was child's play to dodge their missiles but that wasn't the point. "ORB Control! I have no intention of firing or attacking your country! So why are you firing at me? ORB Control!" But he still received no answer. For the moment…

"Don't act stupid. Now that ORB has joined the International Safety Assurance Treaty, PLANT is an enemy nation," said one of the pilots before he fired at him again. Athrun gasped.

_Cagalli? What's going on?_

"Although our forces have yet to engage ZAFT in battle, there's no way we can allow you to enter our nation. Besides that, the _Minerva_ is no longer here." Athrun bit his bottom lip in frustration.

"Let me speak to the Representative! I must speak with Cagalli!"

"Tch. The princess was kidnapped yesterdayat her wedding to Yuuna." That did it for Athrun. With a slight glare, he switched hisSaviour from armor to suit. The two Murasames mimicked his actions and one fired at him. He blocked the beam with his shield and returned fire, destroying the hand rifle with one well-placed shot. He placed another one at the secondary engine of the other Murasame, disabling it. His task complete, Athrun shifted back into armor mode and flew away before his enemies could regroup.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" shouted Cagalli as she faced Lacus, Murrue and Andrew on the bridge of the Archangel. Lacus was in her commander's outfit from when she commanded the _Eternal_, Murrue and Andrew in ORB uniforms. Art had already disappeared withAros and Lowe to the _Endyminon_ and Kira was conveniently unavailable. She had changed into the ORB commander uniform from her annoying weeding dress. Not that she wasn't glad to get rid of the damn thing… 

"You do realize that kidnapping the head of a nation during her wedding would make you international criminals!" Lacus shrugged in a helpless way.

"Too late, Art already is. She's computer enemy number one with every major government in the world and outside of it. She's a hacker at heart you know." Cagalli growled at her attempt to lighten the mood.

"That's not the point! Are you all out of your minds? Why would you do such a thing?"

"Well yeah, we know all that. But with the current situation, it couldn't be helped," said Andrew.

"We know you Cagalli. You are the only reasonable leader left of the three biggest governments so the world will really crumble if you did something stupid."

"What's stupid? I carefully and painfully thought over everything-"

"And that's the point Cagalli," interrupted Lacus. "You are ruled by your heart and are very passionate. And because of that and your love for ORB, you allied with the Atlantic Federation and agreed to marry Seiran."

"No doubt you would have been torn from your place of power if you **did **go through with the marriage," added Andrew.

"That and Athrun would have killed us if he knew," said a new voice. They all turned to see a happily smiling image of Art. Cagalli growled again.

"This is all your fault! There's no way Kira would have known about the marriage until after the fact!" She pointed an accusing finger at the girl who only began to laugh.

"And do you really think your marrying of Yuuna would have helped ORB in the long run?" she asked. Just like that, all the steam Cagalli had been building up deflated. "He's a politician you know. And all they want is what's best for them. By kidnapping you, you retain your powers as princess of ORB. We will return you. Eventually. Just not yet." She glared at the young girl before sighing.

"You're right. But I still don't like it."

"You don't have to. Just trust us Cagalli, you'll be glad we took you when we did. Who the hell knows what would happen if Yuuna and his fat ass father gained full control of ORB?"

"I know things are hard for you my sister. And I am sorry that I wasn't able to keep you here like I had wanted but things will be better this way for the future," said Kira as his head appeared next to Art's. His eyes briefly flashed to Lacus' and he smiled in a gentle way. She returned it. "We still don't know a lot of things, but now we have time. ORB will be okay for the time we keep you away. I know Todoka will keep the military portion under control. So will you come with us Cagalli?" She sighed deeply before smirking up at him.

"Of course you idiot. Hey Art!" The younger girl flinched slightly. "Don't worry, I'll forgive you if you fix up my Aile Strike Rouge with a special little feature…" As expected, Art's eyes glinted with the promise of doing something new to a suit.

* * *

Athrun sighed deeply to himself as he came in for a landing on the _Minerva_. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, the ship had docked for repairs at the Carpentaria Naval Base, less than two hours from the edge of ORB's border. The suit slid into the garage with the assistance of the crane. He got out of the cockpit with an ease born of someone who had done the task more than simply a few times before coming to a stop on the ground. He recognized Lunamaria quickly before tugging his helmet off only to be greeted with a few gasps. 

"Athrun Zala, belonging to the Special Task Force FAITH, requesting permission to come aboard." A nearby tech took his helmet before Shinn came into view. As usual, the boy was callous and rude.

"What the hell are you doing here?" With an annoyed glare, Luna elbowed him.

"Shinn! Watch your mouth! He's FAITH now. He outranks us all easily!" With that, she turned and saluted him. Shinn was dense for a moment before he spied the special insignia on Athrun's suit. Everyone else saluted as well. Shinn just stepped forward a bit.

"Why are you…"

"Shinn! Just shut up and salute!" On the inside Athrun was very amused as he returned the salute to everyone. Shinn looked at his hands preoccupied with stuff before he passed them off to Luna's sister Meyrin, adjusted his suit and saluted. Here the FAITH member openly smiled a bit before dropping his arm and turning serious.

"Is the captain on the bridge?" he asked no one in particular.

"Uh…yeah, I think so."

"I'll conduct you after you sign in," said Luna stepping forward to him. He only smiled.

"Thank you." She nodded and walked away, sure in the knowledge that he would follow. Many followed them with their heads.

"Hey! Does this mean you've returned to ZAFT?" asked Shinn to their backs. Athrun stopped and turned his head to address him out the corner of his eye.

"More or less."

"Why? You were totally against the idea before." But he received no answer. The pair walked into the elevator as Luna directed it. Athrun leaned against the wall and sighed again. He was sure that there would be many others with questions like that.

"'Why did you re-enlist?' is what I really want to ask right now. May I?" asked Luna turning to face him. He looked down uncomfortably.

"It's not that I 're-enlisted' per say…I just went to PLANT, talked with the Chairman and…well. But more importantly, when do you all leave ORB?"

"You went there?" she asked him, looking at him like he was crazy. He shrugged.

"Yeah, it was the last known place to me where you were."

"Well, you're obviously okay but that country is now our…"

"I know, they scrambled on me when I was approaching. I tried to radio in but no one answered."

"I think I understand somewhat why Shinn is always so angry at them. They shoot first and ask questions later. We weren't even finished with repairs before they kicked us out and were ambushed by an Atlantic Federation fleet! Shinn's the only reason we're here right now."

"But why would Cagalli-"

"I used to respect her in the past but now she's allied with the AF and then married some guy…" Although he had heard it before, this was the first time he really listened to it.

"Married? To who?" Luna looked at him weirdly.

"To Seiran Yuuna but I heard that she was kidnapped by some Astrays before the wedding could really finish." The elevator finally stopped and he smiled gratefully at her.

"Thank you Lunamaria." She grinned back.

"You can call me Luna."

* * *

"We're going to Western Eurasia to help the forces there that are against the AF," said Kira shortly to his main commanders. Shani, Orga, Clotho, Lowe, Duncan for the Blitz, Scott for the Buster and Jeanne for the Duel. He also had a group of Murasames but didn't want to risk pushing his hand too soon with his Trinity as well as the Strikes. 

"A bit of hacking has informed me that soon, ZAFT is going to launch an offensive there to help them out and open up the Straits of Gibraltar. Remember, we're trying to stop both sides here," said Art.

"We move in, take out the AF and leave. Normally I'd say keep 'em alive but we don't have time for that. Everyone is going out. Akira?"

"Alright, the AF forces have got themselves pretty much settled in firmly. They've even got a giant anti-beam shield strong enough to take a direct hit from a Tannhäuser positron cannon. The main objective is to take that out first. Lowe, we'll need you andAros to handle that. Your Gerbera Straight will be able to cut right through the shield. Providing cover for you and a distraction will be Jeanne, Shani and Clotho with their teams. Your mission is two fold, provide the distraction and decimate the ground forces. After the shield is down, Orga and Scott will swoop in and take care of everything else. Everyone understand? Good, we launch in two hours."

* * *

"Um captain. Are you aware of the situation at ORB?" asked Athrun before he turned to go after his debriefing with Captain Talia. She looked at him surprised. 

"Yes, their princess has been kidnapped. And although their government is trying to hide it, she was taken by a three man team of Astrays, the color frame series and taken to the Archangel."

"Art?" he asked quietly.

"We're the ones who want to ask what's going on. Why would Cagalli's niece kidnap her? For what purpose?" Athrun didn't know but he was going to find out.

"Thank you very much," and he bowed out of the room.

* * *

And that is that. I hope everyone liked it and will forgive me for taking so long with it. Most of the dialog, especially the specifics will come directly from the anime. I already have the next chapter in the works so hopefully it won't take me long. I'll try to keep all chapters above five pages and each chapter should span more than two episodes at the minimum. There are fifty episodes total but if you notice, I skipped ahead to fourteen. 


	6. Moving Forward

Since I've had a few people request it, I've decided to move up the showing of Art's RdaC. I wasn't planning on showing it at all but people wanna see it so here it is. I hope I don't disappoint anyone but most of the armaments are simply taken and updated from already existing weapons.

Also, just so everyone is fully aware: Artemis is very intelligent and very much obsessed with machines. So saying, she is responsible for most of the mobile suits and such that appear in this story. She will either be the designer, the builder, or just someone who improved on someone else's design, but nevertheless she will have had a hand with **_EVERYTHING._** I'm just saying that clearly so I don't get any flames that complain about how she's involved too much.

And I'm bumping up Akira's age a bit. No matter how much I wish it, Kira is not **that** good and Akira is too young so saying he is now thirteen instead of ten.

* * *

"Please?" 

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Kira looked at Art quietly, rubbing his temples to dissipate the impending headache. She was giving him 'The Face' and that stupid question was getting on his nerves.

_She's spent **WAY** too much time around Lacus…_

"Art I-" She put more effort into her quivering bottom lip, causing it to shake sporadically along with the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. He grimaced and looked away, hiding his face in his hand. "Lacus is so going to kill me for this…alright! ALRIGHT! Go ahead but if she comes after me-!" he warned. Instantly 'The Face' vanished only to be replaced with a look of pure delight. _Only **she** could go from hot to cold so damn fast._

"YES! Don't worry Kira. I'll have back up you know," she said, reaching a hand up and pressing down on a special watch on her wrist. The floor began to shake lightly as one of the ceiling plates moved as a very large suit was lowered down into the largest amount of space left in Art's special hangar.

It was an all black with red detail Calamity of course but with some heavy modifications. First and foremost, there was no shield. Moving from the ground up, there were large thruster vents on both the inside and the outside of the legs, helping to support the extra weight. On the chest was the MGX-2235 Callidus beam cannon also with hidden slots on the side for other beam weapons and two MMI-GAU30 20.5mm CIWS mounted in the chest. Under the guards on the shoulders were two 120cm high-energy beam cannons taken from the METEORs. The backpack was larger than that of the original Calamity but was also modified with two sets of wings. Inside the wings were the M200 Balaena plasma beam cannons and added onto the pack was also a pair of Type 73F modified high-energy beam cannons along with a seven guided mobile beam turret system. Borrowed from the Raider, there was also a Zorn 300mm cannon on the mouth with two MMI-M20Z 30mm dual machine guns mounted in the head.

Kira could see the young girl almost bouncing with anticipation. But he couldn't blame her all that much. He almost never let her out at all, much less in the most destructive suit ever built.

"You're taking Akira out as well." She paused her bouncing to look at him with curious blue eyes.

"In what might I ask? There's no way in hell he's ready for the Freedom, not that I'd let him use it anyway, but you've yet to assign him a suit." Kira frowned a bit. She was right; he **had** been putting that off for some time. But nevertheless, the boy was ready.

"Is the Out Frame ready?" She stared up at the ceiling, tilting her head to the side a bit. He watched her and silently wondered if she had gone insane again.

"Actually, yes. Don't remember when I did finish it. It coulda been between my repairs on Calamity-01 or right before Cagalli'sStrike Aile or even…"

"Art…" he said with a slight warning. She shook herself and grinned sheepishly.

"Right anyway, it is ready along with the three backpacks. You want me to set up a specific one for this?"

"Yeah, use the Force one. I just want him to get some battle experience. The Freedom is mostly a close-combat suit with exceptional maneuvering capabilities so using that would be best," he murmured, thinking out loud. She scoffed.

"You don't think I know that? I practically built the bloody thing!" He waved her off, walking away.

"Yeah, yeah. Just get everything ready, ya?" She scowled behind his back but bit her tongue. He was letting her out anyway. She grinned widely.

_This is going to be so much fun! I gotta meet with Richards to remake the battle plans…ooh…_she shivered with anticipation, looking up at her unit.

"We're gonna make hell aren't we Darc? (Pronounced as dark)" Her only response was the sudden lighting of its eyes and a slight nod of the head.

Boredom was something that never needed to be in the same sentence as Art.

* * *

_If she is with Kira, she'll be fine…doesn't matter really. I can't go back to ORB anyway, _thought Athrun as he stared out of the glass window into the hangar. He could feel the _Minerva _shaking underneath his feet and assumed that they were finally launching. He barely aware of Shinn and Stellar sitting on the couch, dressed in pilot suits, the same as himself. Rey, Sting, and Auel were probably off doing something that they did. Athrun didn't take the time to get to know the other pilots. 

_Thank you Artemis and you too Kira…although I'm pretty sure even if he hadn't given his permission, she still would have gone off anyway…_He snorted at the thought. He remembered when he first met her.

* * *

FLASHBACK 

_A fourteen (A/N: I'm guessing here) year-old Athrun Zala tugged on the collar of his jacket nervously as he rung the doorbell on the extravagant mansion. It would be the first time he met his fiancé in person. He was barely noticing the pink, purple and blue flowers planted on the sides of the porch when the door flew open. He opened his mouth to say a greeting but clamped it shut when he realized no one was there._

"_Down here!" shouted a small female voice that carried a deep undercurrent of attitude in it. He did as he was told; the military training already shaping his mind into the obedient soldier. Barely coming to his waist was a rather small eight year-old with burgundy hair and aquamarine eyes. More surprising than her height was her attire, something he had only seen mechanics wear. She seemed vaguely familiar._

"_Don't I know you?" he asked bluntly. She blinked at him and tilted her head to the side._

"_You're Zala's boy aren't you?" she returned._

"_Um…yes?" he ventured cautiously. The girl nodded to herself prior to launching a fist at his stomach. Even with his training, he was still caught unawares and gasped tightly as the wind was forcefully ejected from his lungs._

"_YOU DAMN JERK! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S ALWAYS CRASHING THE ZAKUs! DO YOU KNOW HOW BORING IT IS FIXING THOSE DAY AFTER DAY! I DON'T LIKE WASTING MY TIME ON EASY SHIT!" she exploded. Athrun threw out a hand and steadied himself on the doorframe._

"_What?" he returned intelligently. The little girl in front of him continued fuming and already had another fist cocked to fly when a heavenly voice spiraled down the stairs to them._

"_Artie! Stop hitting random people!" she chided. Instantly, the brash eight year-old dropped her fist and started to look and act her age._

"_But Lacus-" The pink pop princess shook her head, her simple blue sundress gliding around her feet as she walked towards them. Athrun could already feel the breath he had tried so hard to take in suddenly leave again. This was _**his**_ fiancé?_

"_No buts Artemis. Now apologize and go back to the base before I ban you from it." He could tell the ultimatum didn't sit well with the young girl but nevertheless she turned to him, apologized and disappeared but not before a swift kick that was uncomfortably close to his family jewels. _

END FLASHBACK

* * *

He smiled ruefully, absently rubbing his stomach where she had hit him and let out a low chuckle. Shinn looked up curiously at him. 

"What's so funny?" he asked. Athrun didn't turn.

"The past," was his cryptic reply. He then ignored the look the young boy shot him.

"**CONDITION RED ISSUED. CONDITION RED ISSUED. ALL PILOTS SHOULD STAND BY IN THEIR RESPECTIVE UNITS. ALL PILOTS SHOULD STAND BY IN THEIR RESPECTIVE UNITS."**

All three looked up and dashed to the elevator without a word. Stellar pushed the button to take them to the hangar.

"Stellar, maybe you should stay behind. We're primarily over water. The Gaia would be useless," said Shinn. She turned her deep purple eyes on him, already tearing up. Athrun so wanted to snort in contempt but kept it to himself.

"You can easily support Rey and Luna, they will probably need the help," he interjected when he saw Shinn's already weak will snapping in the face of his girlfriend's tears. The boy in question threw him a sour look but nodded anyway.

"He's right Stellar. I'm going to be counting on you to protect Rey and Luna; they can't protect the ship all by themselves." She beamed at him and nodded eagerly.

"Stellar protect!" she chirped. Athrun fought the other urge to cringe.

_Am I glad that Cagalli is NOTHING like that; if she were…she'd be happily married to _**Yuna. **The name of the man who tried to wed his wife was thought in a mocking and disdainful tone.

"Athrun?" The three looked over at the screen conveniently located on the left wall. It was Captain Gladys.

"Is it the Earth Alliance?"

"Yes. What will you do?"

"Huh?"

"Since we are both members of FAITH, I have no right or authority to give you orders." Shinn and Stellar looked at him, one suspiciously, the other vague.

"I will launch as well. Although you can't order me, I am also a crew member of this ship and therefore will protect it to the best of my abilities." She smiled at him, noticing Shinn relax behind his back.

"Very well. In that case, I ask that you take command of the mobile suits after you launch. Is that acceptable?" He nodded as the elevator reached the hangar.

"I understand." And the screen went blank. He sighed a bit before looking at the others. "Well then, let's go."

"**Impulse, Saviour, Chaos, Abyss, please launch. The ZAKUs and the Gaia are on standby until further orders."**

"**Standby for launch."**

Athrun relaxed easily into the familiar launch sequence and catapulted into the open blue sky. Then he frowned, watching and waiting for the Impulse to finish. Sting and Auel were already in the sky and sea respectively.

_Truly, if they're going to make a rip-off Strike, the least they could do would be to make the conversions a bit faster. I'd hate to see him in a serious dogfight where he can't take off time to get the legs and chest._

"Alright, let's move out. We've got thirty Windoms to take care of and a flagship that's no where to be found. Let's not make a need for the others to appear, yeah?" He received three affirmatives and led them off to engage the enemy. Shinn didn't hesitate and immediately overtook them all, shooting his beam rifle at everything that moved.

"Shinn wait! Damnit! Fine, leave the Windoms to him. Auel, assist Shinn. No matter how good he thinks he is, he can't handle them all. Sting, you take the Raider Full Spec. I'll take the Sword Calamity. Understand?"

"Sure sure. Like shooting fish in a barrel!" shouted Auel, beams already shooting out of the water. Sting shrugged.

"Why not?" Athrun smirked a little before changing modes and barrel rolling around the lasers that would have ended his new military career. He turned back around, returning fire but missing all the same.

"He's good…"

* * *

Shinn continued shooting blindly for the most part, hitting each target only by the corrections of the computer. 

"Tch! All you have is numbers!" he shouted, downing two more. He noticed a purple Windom out the corner of his eye and being cocky, fired on it. The pilot of the suit was obviously intelligent, diving into the clouds as cover before firing back. Shinn was forced into the defensive. "Damn he's fast!" He continued dodging before mimicking the Windom and diving under the clouds. The purple Windom followed after him along with two units. The Impulse cruised close to the ocean, moving erratically to reduce the chance of getting hit. He shot up into the air, more beams following his every move. He looked around wildly, trying to figure out where to start, blocking beams with his shield every now and then. Athrun noticed his trouble with an eye roll.

_Cocky idiot…_"Auel! Shinn needs some cover fire!" he shouted, one strike from the SC getting a bit too close for his own comfort.

"Yeah, yeah! Hold your shorts!" The Abyss launched out of the water, punching its jets to hover and began blasting not unlike how Shinn was doing. Except Auel didn't miss half as much. Athrun dodged his own enemy in the Sword Calamity. The pilot was obviously skilled, albeit a bit slow. Shinn finally got frustrated enough and decided to take his fight to the Windom, using his sword but naturally he missed.

"Oh ho! So the little ace has teeth now?" taunted the enemy pilot. But he soon shut his mouth as anti-air missile raked across his left side. "What! Damn it where have all the allied units gone?"

"They've been shot down sir and I'm having problems ridding myself of this damn red one!" shouted the pilot of the Sword Calamity.

"Damn! Elijah, Kazahana! Fall back and prepare to rendezvous!" He pulled back on the controls and sped away, leaving a very confused Shinn in his wake.

* * *

CRACK! 

Athrun's gloved hand exploded on Shinn's cheek, drawing the attention of everyone in the hangar. The raven-haired boy turned his head back around, glaring at his superior, not that he'd ever willingly admit it.

"I'd don't mind if you want to hit me, but I haven't done anything wrong!" Athrun gazed coldly down at him, his own emerald eyes flashing.

"How about running headlong into a battle that could have quickly turned around and bit you on the ass?"

"My actions saved those people and destroyed an enemy base! I'm a hero!" the young idiot proclaimed.

CRACK!

This time in the opposite direction. Athrun was seriously getting pissed. He, like Kira, did not like to resort to physical blows to get his point across. This was more of Art's method. But he had to agree; her way was working a **lot** better.

"Wars aren't about pretending to be heroes boy! Making decisions on your own are what get good people killed! Auel could have easily lost his position and died while trying to cover **you**! If you have power, understand it before you use it! It's because of people like you that I left ZAFT in the first place." With that last remark, he turned around and walked away, not looking at anyone. Sting released Stellar after he had gone. The somewhat distraught girl ran up to her boyfriend, trying to comfort his wounded pride. He refused to look at her, his head turned away in shame.

* * *

"That could have gone better," said Reed Wheeler, captain of the Serpent's Tail Laurasia-class frigate. He ran a rough hand through his blond buzz-cut, a bottle of some alcohol in the other. Gai glowered at him but Elijah beat him in replying. 

"No shit. I could barely touch that red suit," grumbled the silver haired boy. Loretta laughed, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"But you did better, didn't you baby?"

"You know it," boasted Kazahana, the young brown haired, brown-eyed girl. Elijah scoffed.

"Barely, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that, I had the harder pilot!"

"Enough," said Gai irritably. (I really can't get a good look at them all so if you want to see what they look like, the link is at the bottom of the chapter.) "We had a job to do and we failed. How long will the repairs take?"

"A few days maximum," replied Lore. He scowled.

"That's not good. Roanoke will not be pleased." Reed snorted.

"When is that crazy man ever pleased?"

"He will be, once we sink the _Minerva._"

"Why don't you ask Hawk to help?" said Elijah. "He has no alliance and could easily be dispatched with the right amount of money."

"You may be right but I wanna hold that card for later."

* * *

"A Sword Calamity and a Raider Full-Spec you say? Sounds like the Serpent's Tail to me," said Akira absently as he reprogrammed the Out Frame (link at end of chapter for pic) so that it could be usable to him. It was one of a kind mix between the Strike and the Astray. It came with different backpacks although the one he was going to be using was much like the Aile but better. Art was sitting in front of him, leaning over the consol every now and then to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. 

"Wonder what Gai's doin' workin' for them though. He's usually annoyingly independent. They must be giving him something big."

"Probably ORB. You know that's what he wants."

"Who knows? Have you finished the recalibration yet?" He scowled up at her.

"No one in or on this ship, dad included, can move as fast as you do with programming. Give me a minute damnit!" She smirked triumphantly at him.

"Aha! So you admit I'm better than you." He only raised an eyebrow at her.

"I never denied it. I know you're better, you know you're better, hell! The whole ship knows! Just because we don't acknowledge it doesn't mean we deny it." He looked up at her fiercely. Art tilted her head to the side, considering him. Akira shifted in the seat nervously. Art's eyes were a clear blue; one that shined even in little light thus it was somewhat creepy to have her stare at you for long periods of time. After a moment she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek, causing him to turn red instantly. He may have grown up under Kira and around her but that didn't make him any less nervous around girls. He looked at her confused.

"That's sweet Akira. Call me when you're finished. Me and your dad are probably going to visit the Archangel in a little while." She turned around and left before he could reply. He sat there stunned for a second more. A hand came up and touched the spot that she kissed in slight awe followed by a minor smile. Ruefully shaking his head, he got back to work, this time moving a bit aster than before.

* * *

(A/N: Just so everyone is clear. Art and Akira are **not** brother and sister. This will come to be important later in the story but Lacus' father **adopted **Artemis when she was still a baby. The whole history will come about shortly.)

* * *

A few hours later, Kira and Art launched in a Blitz and rendezvoused with the _Archangel. _Art happily hugged her sister and gave Cagalli a lighthearted jab. Andrew and Murrue watched with small smiles as Kira and Lacus embraced tenderly, content just to stay in one another's arms. 

"So what have you guys been workin' on?" asked Art, spinning in Arnold's chair, making sure to stay well away from the steering wheel. Murrue rolled her eyes at the antics of the fifteen year-old.

She might have been the best mechanic the world over but she was still a child at times.

"Nothing really, just information gathering," she nodded towards the main screen which was covered with different reports from all over the globe. Lacus sat in one of the CIC chairs working with Kira peering over her shoulder. Occasionally, she'd turn around and give him a smile, not being one for extreme PDA. (A/N: I got suspended for that once. Like in the anime, they will be **obvious **but not blatantly so. Secrecy is the better part of not getting suspended ya know.)

"There's been nothing but depressing crap since the scraps landed," informed Andrew, sipping his coffee. "Wonder why there's never anything uplifting. I doubt everyone is this miserable."

"Something's not right here," chirped Art in a singsong voice.

"I agree, what happened to the war with PLANT? All we're getting is nonsense about how confused and unsettled the Earth Alliance is." Kira turned to observe her, thinking.

"Was it ever stable?" he replied. Cagalli shrugged.

"And PLANT is like this all the time…" added Lacus, pulling her earpiece away and taking over one of the smaller screens. She enlarged it and allowed audio to filter in. Three pairs of eyes simultaneously widened and Art's jaw dropped open.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" she shouted. Lacus didn't even chide her, as she understood what had brought the comment on.

There, on a now enlarged screen, was Lacus dancing, if you could call it that, on a supposedly live performance with an extremely revealing outfit and an annoyingly upbeat version of Quiet Night. The outfit itself looked like a one-piece bathing suit with a skirt that was below the hips verses on them. Said skirt also had a large cut going right down the middle, showing off even more of Lacus' legs.

Art looked from Lacus to the screen and back before looking at Kira. He had simply closed his eyes and turned back to the live Lacus, shaking his head.

"They all seem to be enjoying themselves," she remarked, drawing their attention.

"Are you okay with leaving things like this?" questioned Cagalli in surprise.

"Why bother? It's a bloody propaganda ploy. Lacus has always been their princess and if she says fight, who would argue? It's morale," growled Art before she got up and strode over to the other CIC console. Jackie leapt to his feet and out of the way as she sat down, her fingers flying over the keypad. "But I'll be damned if I don't find out the name of the witch that's impersonating my sister. Cagalli, hand me my bag." After it was in her hand, she reached in and pulled out a small laptop, plugging it into the console while at the same time grabbing a headset that was reminiscent of a virtual reality helmet. She tugged it on, lowered the visor and began typing away madly. Everyone remained silent as she worked, occasionally mumbling things under her breath. All of them pointed towards murder. With a triumphant cry, she leaned back satisfied and pressed a button, lifting the visor off her eyes.

"Art?"

"Everyone, meet Meer Campbell, our own personal Lacus impersonator." The screen again changed to a photo of a black haired girl with small eyes and a slightly prominent nose. "She had surgery done to make her look like Lacus. Apparently, she has a similar voice, which led to her initial choosing of being the impersonator."

"I can imagine why she allowed them to do that. Becoming your idol, it's a dream for many," said Murrue contemplatively.

"But there's more. She has been documented in showing slight mental disability, leading to schizophrenia eventually."

"So that means…?"

"Some day, probably soon if this keeps up, she will really _believe_ she is Lacus Clyne, fiancé to Athrun Zala." Cagalli didn't say a word, only clenching her fist. "And the worst part is, no one will argue that. The people who can tell the difference are mostly all right here." She snorted. "Although, how they believe that's Lacus is beyond me. No way in hell would you wear something like that…although Kira might appreciate it," she added with a grin. His face instantly colored while the original scowled at her sister.

"Not funny Artemis."

"Shittin' me!" she cried as they all laughed.

"How did you do that?" asked Cagalli, rubbing her head in confusion. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that ZAFT and PLANT's computers where some of the hardest to hack into.

"The hacking? Sis, there's a few things you always must remember about our resident mad scientist. One: Art's good like that. Two: She has inside connections to all major forms of government. And three?"

"I built the damn system." She nearly broke down laughing at their surprised faces. "You didn't know that? Yeah, back when dad was all cool and the council wasn't so corrupt, he realized my potential and had me make a computer system for the military to use. Suffice to say by the time I got done making the whole thing and working all the kinks out of it, Zala was already pushing for war. So I decided to leave myself a visual backdoor, hence the helmet. It lets me see into the actual mainframe for the visual reminders I left myself."

"You have connections everywhere?" she asked warily.

"Yes, that means yours too. Where the hell did you think I got the blueprints for the Astrays? Trinity got em for me before they were officially court-martialed. Don't worry Cagalli, I use my powers only for good and the betterment of my Calamity." All in the room shuddered at that; a better RDaC was a scary thought. She sighed. As pleasing as random destruction would be, it was back to work however. "Too bad we can't remove Meer yet. Its not time."

"Yes, we still need more information. Like who's really behind the 'Breaking the World' scheme," said Murrue.

"Probably Blue Cosmos. Junius Seven was PLANT territory, therefore since it landed, Naturals would naturally blame the easiest target, the Coordinators," said Andrew.

"Probably," agreed Murrue. "It would have been easy, to flee to the PLANTS, serve under Dullindal. He has been nothing but a great leader, based on his public actions."

"But going on his private ones, he can kiss my ass," sneered Art, going back to hacking.

"For once, I agree with Art. We can't trust him and only hope that Athrun does a better job."

"Speaking of Athrun, he's been assigned to FAITH." Cagalli pushed her head dangerously close to Art's as she worked. "Cagalli! Personal space! Invade Athrun's!" she growled. The ORB leader leaned back nervously.

"What about FAITH?" spoke Andrew sharply.

"Yeah, he's now a member, meaning he only answers to the Council and thus, Dullindal. He was even given a new experimental unit, the Saviour. Like the other new models, it can transform into a jet. They were also recently in a battle with the Earth Federation and Serpent's Tail." Kira blinked.

"Are you sure?" She scowled at him.

"What the hell do you take me for? And just for you I even ran it past Akira. He agrees. I'm going to assume that the Earth Alliance promised him ORB."

"Over my dead body!" shouted Cagalli. Art gave her a glance.

"Be careful, they might hold you to that. ZAFT is working hard to show the world how they are not the evil ones and that the EA is. Unfortunately, they've got the right of it. The EA is not making too many allies with their actions in West Eurasia."

"We don't know what to think," scowled Kira. "On one hand, we have the ideal leader who is going behind people's backs, deceiving them. On the other, we have the lesser of two evils. We need to stay out of it for the moment."

* * *

"What you doin' out here Shinn?" asked Athrun as he emerged on to the top deck of the _Minerva_. The boy looked at him from the corner of his eye. 

"Nothing. Is it alright for a member of FAITH to be wasting their time like this? I thought you had a lot to do?" Athrun walked towards him and sighed.

"You really can't speak inoffensively can you? You remind me of Yzak."

"Commander Joule?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes, everyone knows we were once on the Le Kluzze team together. He hated me too." He stepped forward and leaned on the rail next to him. "So what's bothering you more? The fact that I came back and joined an elite military group or the fact that I hit you?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Neither, although no one in the world likes to be hit. But you once guarded Athha. **THAT'S** my problem. How am I to obey your orders? What you're doing makes no sense." Athrun shrugged.

"I'll admit, from your point of view I don't make any sense. But then again, you're jaded against anything involving ORB and Cagalli so naturally you want to rebel. That's it, isn't it?" He leveled a piercing gaze at the younger boy.

"No…"

"You're simply biased. You said your family died at Onogoro?"

"No," he repeated. "They were killed."

"Yeah…you keep telling yourself that. No one knows what really happened. It was probably a stray shot. But what you pine over is the fact that you didn't have the power to save them." Shinn's eyes flashed. "Don't you think most of the PLANTs thought that when Bloody Valentine happened? I myself was already a pilot. I could have done something. But now…you have the power. And you make others cry. Just like how someone made you cry. If you go out, fighting for yourself, you will do nothing but be a destroyer. Is that all you really are? Shinn Asuka?" He left the boy there, drowning in his thoughts.

_Tch, he's going to get one of us killed.

* * *

_

"Alright, here we go. As we all know, there's only one clear-cut path to the base in Gulnaham Ravine. Right up this pass. However, the Earth forces know that too. They've got a semi-mobile positron cannon that can defend from all sides, land, sea and air. On top of that, any type of beam weaponry we could use is obsolete due to their positron reflector. I know we already had a plan but Commander Yamato has decided to change up things a bit."

"As in?"

"Art's RdaC." The whole room went silent.

"They're gonna get creamed." Some laughed. Very few times had any of them seen the suit in action and even lesser times has the suit failed to meet its objective or left many behind.

"Yes, it thinks so too. Anyway, due to the presence of _that _Calamity, our former plan is scrapped and pushed back. Now serving as the distraction is the Calamity and Akira in the Out Frame. His own PR (Positron reflector) will be enough to block any attacks while Artemis gives him cover. Orga, you and Jeanne are going to be going with them straight up the middle. Clotho, you and Scott are going to come in from the sea and Shani, you're dropping from the sky. But only AFTER they have fired off the first positron blast and are occupied with the ground team. You unfortunately have no shield and therefore are at the most risk. While all of this is going on, Lowe and Aros are going to come in from behind them. Also, all the teams will be split. We need some to cover the guys as well. The EF commanders aren't stupid, nor are they young and prone to stupid mistakes. They're going to think something is wrong if we don't attack from all sides. Also, we need the all the Strike units and ten of the Murasames to go back up the Archangel. They're utterly defenseless right now."

"I'll get the teams ready," volunteered one of the males in the room.

"Alright. We're launching in a few hours, be ready by then."

* * *

"Scared Akira?" taunted Art as she climbed into her suit. The cockpit was designed specifically for her, it being a bit smaller than what most pilots would choose. The consoles surrounding her were also more technically advanced than with any of the others. His face popped up on her left, crimson eyes glowing fiercely. 

"You wish."

"Actually I don't. You have to face the PC head on. This whole plan basically revolves around you." He remained quiet for a moment, absorbing her words.

"You're right. You got my back though?" She smiled at him.

"You know it. Where would I be if I didn't have my favorite idiot to bother?"

"Cut the chatter you two, we're launching," cut in Kira. They obliged and soon found themselves on land, the sides of the canyon going up around them.

"Showtime…"

* * *

And that's where I end it. My first cliffie! I'm so happy! Anyway, sorry for the wait but I've got a good idea for the next chapter. I had a really good time writing this one with the emergence of Meer. I had always pictured a more shocked reaction when I saw it in my head and hope I did the scene justice. I also gave a reason why Art is always easily hacking into places. I hope I didn't make Athrun too cynical but Shinn just really gets on my nerves. Till next time. 

Pic of Serpent's Tail: http/en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Image: Serpenttail.jpg  
Pic of Out Frame: http/en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ ZGMF-X12GundamAstrayOutFrame

Just take out the spaces. I'd suggest everyone search Wikipedia for all their info on Gundam Seed Destiny. They have a very large gallery with all the suits and pilots and factions and everything.


End file.
